Supp Think Arab Trans

THINKING ARABIC TRANSLATION
_______________________________
A Course in Translation Method: Arabic to English
Supplement
James Dickins
Contents: Supplement
Introduction 1 Preliminaries to translation as a process

1.3.1 Annotation: gist, exegesis and rephrasing
1 3
3 8
Practical 1.3 Gist translation:
2 Preliminaries to translation as a product

2.1.1 2.1.5 2.2.2.1 2.2.2.2 Interlinear translation From interlinear to free translation Translation by omission Translation by addition
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9 10 11 11
Practical 2.3 Literal vs. free translation:
11 14
14 14 15 15
3 Cultural transposition
3.1 3.3 Basic principles Calque
Practical 3.2 (extension) Cultural transposition: Practical 3.3 Cultural transposition:
4 Compensation
4.1 4.2 Basic principles Categories of compensation
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17 17 18
Practical 4.1 Compensation:
ii
5 Denotative meaning and translation issues

5.1 5.1.2 5.1.3 5.1.4 5.2 5.2.2 Denotative meaning Hyperonymy-hyponymy Particularizing translation and generalizing translation Partially overlapping translation Semantic repetition in Arabic List restructuring
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19 20 20 22 23 23
Practical 5.3 Semantic repetition, parallelism and list restructuring:
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6 Connotative meaning and translation issues

6.7 Reflected meaning
28
28
7 Phonic/graphic and prosodic issues in translation

7.1.1 7.2 7.2.2 Alliteration, assonance, and rhyme The prosodic level Translating Arabic verse
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29 29 30 31 31
Practical 7.3 The prosodic level: Practical 7.4 The phonic/graphic and prosodic levels: ..
8 Grammatical issues in translation

8.2 8.2.0 8.2.0.1 8.2.0.1.1 8.2.0.1.2 8.2.0.2 8.2.2 8.2.3.1 The grammatical level The definition of syntactic sentence in English and Arabic Grammatical definition of syntactic sentence English Arabic Occurrence-based definition of syntactic sentence Grammatical arrangement Pattern repetition
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33 34 34 35 36 38 40 41 42
Practical 8.2 Lexical item repetition:
9 Sentential issues in translation

9.1 9.2.2 The sentential level Theme and rheme
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43 44
Contents: Supplement 9.2.2.3 9.2.4 9.3 Basic theme-rheme translation issues Interaction of theme-rheme and main-subordinate elements Denotative aspects of subordination
iii 44 47 50 52
Practical 9.3 Coordination in Arabic narratives:
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10.3.1 10.3.2
Discourse and intertextual issues in translation

Genre membership Quotation and allusion
54
54 56 57
Practical 10.3 Textual restructuring:
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11.2.2 11.2.3
Metaphor
The purposes of metaphor Metaphorical force
59
59 60
12
Language variety and translation: register, sociolect and dialect
61
61
12.6 Representations of speech in written Arabic Practical 12.3 Representation of speech in written Arabic, and tonal register: Practical 12.4 Representation of speech in written Arabic, and tonal register:
66 67
13
Textual genre as a factor in translation
69
69
Practical 13.3 Genre: Comparison of Kuwait articles
14
14.1.1 14.3
Translating technical texts

Cultural commonality vs. cultural non-commonality Conceptual problems in technical translation
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72 73 76
Practical 14.3 Semi-technical translation:
15
Translating constitutional texts
79
79
Practical 15.3 Constitutional translation:
iv
16
16.4
Translating consumer-oriented texts

Genre-mixing in consumer-oriented texts
81
81 82
Practical 16.3 Translation of consumer-oriented texts:
References
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Introduction to Thinking Arabic Translation: Supplement

_______________________________ Thinking Arabic Translation: Supplement is designed to be used alongside Thinking Arabic Translation (Dickins, Hervey and Higgins 2002). The Supplement contains two sorts of material. The first is textual material further developing the translation issues discussed in the main text of Thinking Arabic Translation. The second is additional practicals, supplementing the practicals at the end of the chapters of Thinking Arabic Translation. The Supplement is particularly suitable for tutors teaching more intensive Arabic>English translation courses of three or more class hours per week. Textual material in the Supplement is organised under section numbers in two ways. Where the material develops ideas specifically related to a particular section of Thinking Arabic Translation, it bears the same section number as the relevant material in that book. Where the material in the Supplement does not develop ideas specifically related to a particular section of Thinking Arabic Translation, but introduces new ideas, it is given a new section number not found in Thinking Arabic Translation. Thus, Chapter 2 of the Supplement consists of four sections: 2.1.1, 2.1.5, 2.2.2.1 and 2.2.2.2. These correspond to identically numbered sections in Thinking Arabic Translation and specifically develop the ideas put forward in these sections in Thinking Arabic Translation. In Chapter 1 of the Supplement, by contrast, the only section,1.3.1, has no correspondent bearing the same number in Thinking Arabic Translation. Chapter 1 of Thinking Arabic Translation does, however, have a Section 1.3 (as well as a subsequent Section 4). Section 1.3.1 in the Supplement is, accordingly, intended not to develop the ideas in Section 1.3 in Thinking Arabic Translation, but to introduce new ideas dependent on those of Section 1.3. Further materials for tutors relating to both Thinking Arabic Translation and this Supplement can be obtained directly from James Dickins at the
Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement
following address: Department of Arabic, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, Al-Qasimi Building, University of Durham, Elvet Hill Road, Durham DH1 3TU, United Kingdom (e-mail: James.Dickins@durham.ac.uk or James.Dickins@urz.uni-heidelberg.de). These materials include full discussions of the practicals given in this Supplement, covering, where appropriate, strategic decisions, possible translations, and decisions of detail. The further materials also include further handouts relating to Thinking Arabic Translation which considerations of space precluded us from including in the Tutors Handbook to that book. Any comments on both Thinking Arabic Translation and this Supplement are welcome, particularly those relating to possible improvements. These can be sent direct to James Dickins at the above address. The symbols used in the Supplement are the same as those for Thinking Arabic Translation, as follows: {} Indicates key elements in ST and/or TT where these might not otherwise be clear. Indicates zero elements in translation (translation by omission). Ch. Section reference to section in another chapter (e.g. Ch. 9.2.2 means Section 9.2.2). Section reference to section in the same chapter. Cross-references in this Supplement normally refer to material in Thinking Arabic Translation. Where they refer to material in the Supplement itself, this is marked with a preceding use of Supplement (thus, Supplement 5.2.2 means Section 5.2.2. of the same chapter of the Supplement). There is supplementary material for all chapters of Thinking Arabic Translation except chapters 17 and 18.
1 Preliminaries to translation as a process: Supplement

_______________________________ 1.3.1 Annotation: gist, exegesis and rephrasing Good examples of exegetic translation, and also on occasion gist translation and even rephrasing, can be found in annotated texts. The following is part of the text of , one of the seven pre-Islamic odes known as the ,with an accompanying commentary (in Arabic ) by (n.d.: 125-127). Such ancient Arabic poetry makes wide use of vocabulary, word order, and to some extent also grammatical structures which were probably already archaic and confined to the poetic register when the poetry was first composed. Considered an essential element of the Arab literary heritage, the are studied as part of the school curriculum throughout the Arab world. Given their difficulty in terms of vocabulary, etc. they are universally studied together with a commentary on them. In order to make the discussion of the material easier, the text of the relevant portion of is presented here with an interlinear-type English translation i.e. an English translation which closely mirrors the structure and wording of the Arabic, and is inserted between each line of the original Arabic text. (Interlinear translation will be discussed further in Chapter 2.) Note also that every line in a classical Arabic poem ( ) is divided up into two halves or hemistiches (hemistich in Arabic being or .)The first half of the line is called the chest (also the first half), and the second the rump (also the second half). These are separated by a gap in the text which is somewhat longer than that which standardly occurs between words. Thus in the first line of this poem the is , while the is
. We have used the symbol // in the English translation to mark the break which occurs between the two hemistiches. Parts of the original footnotes for lines 1 and 4 appear after the end of the extract. Translations of the footnote are added beneath the footnote itself. Note that other footnotes in the original commentary have not been included here. Elements omitted from the original footnotes of lines 1 and 4 are marked by [...] in the original Arabic, and by [...] in the English translation. Have-disappeared the-camping-grounds their-alighting-places and theirstopping-places // in Mina; have-become-deserted its[i.e. Minas]-[Mount]-Ghaul and-its[i.e. Minas]-[Mount]-Rijam. The torrent-beds of [Mount] Al-Rayyan have-become-denuded their-trace // made-threadbare; just as have-encompassed the-writings (obj.) its-stones (subj.) [i.e. just as its stones have come to obliterate its writings]. ruins/dung-heaps have-passed since the-time of their-sociability // years, have-gone-by their-unhallowed and their-sacrosanct. [they] have-been-fed with-the-spring-rains of the-stars [adverbial accusative use of ,] and have struck-them // the-rain of thethunder-clouds their-[i.e. the thunder clouds]-downpour and-their-shower. from every night-cloud and darkening morning-cloud, // and late-evening answering-itself its-roar [i.e. every late evening cloud whose roar echoes back]. Footnote to line 1 (beginning ) . . . . . . . . ]...[ . .
Preliminaries to translation as a process: Supplement
Translation of footnote to line 1 (beginning ) [The verb] is both transitive and intransitive; one may say The wind obliterated [[ ] the traces of] the camp-site, and The campsite itself was obliterated [[ .] The verbal noun is] and . In this verse is used intransitively. [ Mahall] with respect to camping grounds is where one alights for a limited number of days. [ Muqam] is where one stays for a long time. [ Muna] is a place in the sanctuary of Dirriya, not the Holy Sanctuary [of Mecca]. The word Muna can be [treated as] grammatically declinable or indeclinable, and it can be masculine or feminine. Al-Ghaul and Al-Rijam are both well-known mountains. [...] He [The poet] says: The tracings of the camping places of the beloved ones have been obliterated - those encampments where they set down without meaning to stay long, and those where they tarried. These camping sites were in a place called Mina. The camping places at Ghaul and Rijam have become deserted because of the passing on of their inhabitants and the moving away of those who dwelt in them. There is a metonymy in [ its Ghaul] and [ its Rijam] relating back to [ the camping grounds]; when he [the poet] says [ its Ghaul has become deserted] he means [ the camping grounds of its Ghaul and its Rijam]. Footnote to line 4 (beginning ) ]...[ . . Translation of footnote to line 4 (beginning He [the poet] says: The camping grounds and the dung-heaps have been watered by the rains of the storms of spring. They have become fertile and green; thundery rain has struck them from the clouds some of which [rain] was abundant and sufficient for the [its] people, and some of which was gentle and slight. The gist of the meaning is: Those camping grounds are fertile and green because of the repeated rain of different types which has fallen on them, and because of the purity of this rain. The three basic types of intralingual translation which we have been discussing gist translation, exegetic translation, and rephrasing are all illustrated in the selected portions of this commentary. Gist translation is illustrated in the footnote to line 4 . Here the fact that this is a gist translation is explicitly signalled by the introductory phrase . Exegetic translation is most clearly illustrated in the additional information
in the footnotes about words or phrases. For example in the footnote to line 1, the exegesis provides glosses for the common nouns and , and for the proper names ,and . Under exegetic translation, one might also include the grammatical information which is frequently found in the footnotes, and which is provided because of the difficulty of the text (even for native Arabic speakers). Sometimes this is specifically related to the text itself; for instance, in the footnote to line 1, the commentary on the phrase reads as follows: . There is a metonymy in [ its Ghaul] and [ its Rijam] relating back to [ the camping grounds]. When he [the poet] says [its Ghaul has become deserted] he means [ the camping grounds of its Ghaul and its Rijam]. Elsewhere, however, the footnote contains a certain amount of more general grammatical information; for example in the footnote to line 1: . . , i.e. [The verb] is both transitive and intransitive; one may say The wind obliterated [ ]the camp-site, and The campsite itself was obliterated [[ .] The verbal noun is] and . In this verse is used intransitively. Here the information that can be both transitive and intransitive, and that it has verbal nouns and goes beyond simple commentary on the text itself. The same generalising form of grammatical exegesis can be seen in the statement (also in the footnote to line 1): The word Muna can be [treated as] grammatically declinable or indeclinable, and it can be masculine or feminine. Rephrasing, finally, is illustrated by the simple statements of the meaning of the text which are found in both the footnote to line 1 and that to line 4. For line 1 we find: . He [the poet] says: The tracings of the camping places of the beloved ones have been obliterated those encampments where they set down without meaning to stay long, and those where they tarried. These camping sites were in a place called Mina. The camping places at Ghaul and Rijam have become deserted because of the passing on of their inhabitants and the moving away of those who dwelt in them. For line 4 we find ... . He [the poet] says: The camping grounds and the dung-heaps have been watered by the rains of the storms of spring. They have become fertile and green; thundery rain has struck them from the clouds some of which [rain] was abundant and sufficient for the [its] people, and some of which was gentle and slight. In all the examples we have been discussing the dividing-lines between
Preliminaries to translation as a process: Supplement
gist, exegesis, translation and comment are somewhat blurred. For instance, the phrase ( line1 of the poem) is glossed in the commentary as . This has been described above as rephrasing. However, not only does this paraphrase contain additional information , which can be inferred from the poem, but which is not strictly speaking mentioned in the poem; the gloss, in addition, itself contains a rhetorically motivated doublet and . This doublet involves both repetition of meaning (termed semantic repetition: cf. Ch. 5.2), and complex repetition of morphological patterns ( and , on the one hand, and and on the other) (termed pattern repetition: cf. Ch. 8.2.3.1). That is to say, although one might regard the gloss as essentially a paraphrase of the original poem, it nonetheless introduces certain additional elements, and therefore has some of the features of an exegesis. In fact, things could not be otherwise. As this chapter has shown, it is difficult to control (and even to discern) how far an intralingual TT omits from, adds to, or faithfully reproduces the ST message content. As we shall see in the next chapter and throughout the course, what applies to intralingual translation applies a fortiori to translation proper: the ST message content can never be precisely reproduced in the TT, because of the fact that the two forms of expression are different.
8 1 PRACTICAL
Practical 1.3 Gist translation Assignment Produce an approximately 50-word gist translation of the following extract :1991 (cited in Johnstone by the Arabic nationalist writer 2.1 789). Say whether it is easier to produce the gist translation in Practical .or this one, and why ST . . . .
2 Preliminaries to translation as a product: Supplement

_______________________________ 2.1.1 Interlinear translation The translation of the extract from , given in Supplement Chapter 1 was virtually interlinear, although some concessions to English grammar were made in order to render it fairly easily comprehensible to an English reader. A more radically interlinear translation of the same piece would be something like the following (here ~ indicates that the two English words so linked correspond jointly to one Arabic word in the ST, and - indicates that the two English words so linked correspond to two linked Arabic forms or words in the ST): Disappeared the-camping~grounds alighting~places-their and-stopping ~places-their // in-Mina become~deserted Ghaul-its and-Rijam-its And-torrent~beds The-Rayyan became~denuded trace-their threadbare // just~as encompassed the-writings stones-its dung~heaps passed since time sociability-their // years went~by unhallowed-their and-sacrosanct-their were~fed spring~rains the-stars and-struck-them // rain the-thunderclouds downpour-their and-shower-their
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Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement from every night~cloud and-morning~cloud darkening // and-late~evening answering~itself roar-its
As is apparent from the incomprehensibility of the English TT here, interlinear translation is normally only employed where the purpose of the translation is to shed light on the structure of the ST. It is mainly used in descriptive linguistics, where the writer is discussing examples from a language or languages which he or she does not expect the reader to know; the interlinear translation provides a gloss which preserves the structure of the original. Sometimes, interlinear translation may be used in language teaching and related areas; one could imagine this interlinear translation of being used to make it easier for students studying the text to grasp both its grammatical structure and the meaning.
2.1.5 From interlinear to free translation The word idiom in English has two senses which or of relevance here: 1. an expression whose meaning cannot be inferred from the denotative meanings (Chapter 5) of the words that constitute it, and the meanings of the grammatical relations (cf. Chapter 8) between these words (e.g. thats a different kettle of fish, he knows his onions); 2. linguistic usage that is grammatical and natural-sounding to native speakers of a language in the context in which it is used (definitions adapted from Collins English Dictionary). In fact, many expressions which are idioms in the second sense (i.e. they sound natural in the context in which they are used) are not idioms in the first sense, since their meaning can be predicted from their constituent words and the meanings of the grammatical relations between these words. However, almost all expressions which are idioms in the first sense are also idioms in the second sense; i.e. they sound natural if used in appropriate contexts. The notion of idiomizing translation properly speaking relates to the second sense of idiom given above; i.e. it is a translation which sounds natural if used in an appropriate context. Accordingly, an idiomizing translation will very likely (but not necessarily) use typical TL phonic or rhythmic patterns (cf. Chapter 6). It is also, however, likely to make use of TL idioms in the first sense of idiom given above, since, as already noted, idioms in the first sense tend also to be idiomatic in the second sense, at least when used in appropriate contexts. Idiomizing translations are designed to give an easy read, even if this means sacrificing nuances of meaning or tone. They are also by definition idiomatic but no more so than most literal, faithful, balanced or free translation.
Preliminaries to translation as a product: Supplement 2.2.2.1 Translation by omission
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Wherever omission reduces the specificity of the information regarding a particular person, thing, process, etc. which is being referred to, it is also a case of generalizing translation; cf. Ch. 5.1.3. 2.2.2..2 Translation by addition Wherever addition provides additional specification regarding a particular person, thing, process, etc. which is being referred to, it is also a case of particularizing translation; cf. Ch. 5.1.3.
PRACTICAL 2 Practical 2.3 Literal vs. free translation Assignment Consider the degree to which the following two English translations exhibit free or literal approaches to translation. What types of audience do you think each of the translations would be most appropriate for? The following considerations (perhaps amongst others) should be useful for your discussion: 1. The degree to which the word-order of the ST is maintained. 2. The degree to which the word structure of the ST is maintained (i.e. the extent to which one word in the ST corresponds to one word in the TT). 3. The degree to which the grammatical structure of the ST is maintained. 4. The degree to which the contents (i.e. meaning is maintained. 5. The degree to which the verse form of the ST is maintained. Arabic verse forms are discussed in more detail in Ch. 7.2.1.2; here it is sufficient to consider the degree to which the hemistich structure (cf. Supplement Ch. 1.3.1) of the ST is maintained in the TT. Contextual information The following are two translations of the first five lines of . The first translation is from Arberry, The seven odes (1957: 142). The second translation, which follows, is from Desert tracings by Sells (1989). The Arabic original is included with both translations for ease of cross-reference. The interlinear-type translation given in Chapter 1 may also be of use, as may the more radically interlinear translation given earlier in this chapter (especially for the meaning of individual words).
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Arabic text plus Arberrys translation The abodes are desolate, halting-place and encampment too, at Min; deserted lies Ghaul, deserted alike Rijm,
and the torrent-beds of Er-Raiyn naked shows their trace, rubbed smooth, like letterings long scored on a stony slab;
blackened orts that, since the time their inhabitants tarried there, many years have passed over, months unhallowed and sacrosanct.
The star-born showers of Spring have fed them, the outpouring of thundercloud, great deluge and gentle following rain,
the cloud that travels by night, the sombre pall of morn, the outspread mantle of eve with muttering antiphon
Preliminaries to translation as a product: Supplement Arabic text plus Sells translation The tent marks at Mnan are worn away, where she encamped and where she alighted, Ghawl and Rijm left to the wild, And the torrent beds of Rayyn naked tracings, worn thin, like inscriptions carved in flattened stones, Dung-stained ground that tells the years passed since human presence, months of peace gone by, and months of war, Replenished by the rain stars of spring, and struck by thunderclap downpour, or steady, fine-dropped silken rains, From every kind of cloud passing at night, darkening the morning, or rumbling in peals across the evening sky.
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3 Cultural transposition: Supplement

_______________________________ 3.1 BASIC PRINCIPLES A fairly extreme example of the difficulty posed by cultural difference is provided by the term . According to Sells, as used originally in pre-Islamic Arabia is an untranslatable term usually rendered as generous or noble: the centrepiece of tribal ethos, symbolized through the naqa [ ] sacrifice and the feeding of the tribe, the unflinching defence of the clan in battle, the lavish wine bouts and banquets, and, in a more abstract sense, the refusal to hoard ones life. The Quran gave the karim a more ethical and religious dimension, but maintained its centrality as a human ideal (Sells 1989: 77-8).
3.3. CALQUE Sometimes calques generate further quasi-calques in the TL. So, in addition to for to shed/throw light on, forms are encountered such as . It is, however, impossible to say in English shed lights on. In using calque, it is clearly important to get the form right. A failed calque may sound endearing (as does a lot of foreignerese), or it may jar with speakers of the TL. In either case, it is likely to distract from the intended message.
Cultural transposition PRACTICAL 3 Practical 3.2 (extension) Cultural transposition
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(iv) Underline any words and phrases which raised cultural issues in your translation. Now, produce a translation of this first paragraph aimed not at the general museum-going public, but for an academic journal whose readership was expected to have specialist existing knowledge of Sudanese culture.
Practical 3.3 Cultural transposition Assignment Consider the following translation (St. John 1999: 78). What different techniques of cultural transposition are used by the translator? What motivations might there be for adopting these different approaches at different points in the translation? Contextual information This text is taken from the short story by the Syrian writer . In this part of the story, the hero is infatuated with an unknown young woman, whom he briefly glimpsed in a field of violets, and dreams of winning her heart. He is currently walking around in a confused day-dream.
16 ST
Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement . : . . : . : .. . :
TT His feet led him to a large mosque, and inside it sat a religious teacher with a white beard. Several men were gathered round him and he was talking about God and the Devil. Allah is the Creator of all things, and no creature can do anything unless He wills it. So Allah can help me realize my dream, said Mohammed to himself. The teacher continued. Satan is the enemy of Man he is evil. Mohammed left the mosque, and as he did so, the blood in his veins became a mass of imploring voices, calling out woefully: Oh God.
4 Compensation: Supplement
_______________________________ 4.1 BASIC PRINCIPLES A good example of the difference between compensation and communicative translation is provided by the fact that the standard English equivalent of is riot police (rather than anti-riot police, or riot combat police, etc.). The translation riot police for , or for riot police, does not therefore involve compensation, despite the obvious differences between the Arabic and English forms.
4.2 CATEGORIES OF COMPENSATION Another example of compensation in place, from by , occurs where the wife is complaining about the treatment she receives from a female Egyptian customs official. The wife says: . This is translated as: Really, its just that woman at the customs got my goat by being piggish to me (Foreman 1996: 35). Here the translator has chosen not to translate the phrase as piggish woman, or even pig of a woman, but has opted for compensation in place by being piggish to me (as well as introducing a pun of his own i.e. a further element of compensation in kind through the use of has got my goat).
18 PRACTICAL 4
Thinking Arabic translation
Practical 4.3 Compensation Assignment (i) Discuss the strategic decisions that you have to take before starting detailed translation of the following text, and outline and justify the strategy you adopt. Pay particular attention to issues of compensation. You are to translate this text for the general reader with no specialist knowledge about Lebanon, for a book entitled The Lebanese civil war: Arab perspectives. (ii) Translate the text into English. (iii) Explain the decisions of detail which you made in producing your TT. For each decision of detail, identify (a) whether there is compensation or not; and where there is compensation: (b) what is lost in the TT; (c) what compensates for this loss in the TT; and (d) how it does so. Contextual information This text is taken from the start of a book entitled ,by ,4891( vol. 1: 7). The book deals with the breakdown of the political consensus in Lebanon in the mid-1970s, and the ensuing civil war. ST . )( . - . .
5 Denotative meaning and translation issues: Supplement

_______________________________ 5.1 DENOTATIVE MEANING Denotative meaning is also known as cognitive, or propositional meaning (cf. Baker 1992:13-14). It is also sometimes referred to as literal meaning. In this book, we have avoided the use of literal in technical discussion (although it used informally in many places in the book in roughly the sense of denotative), since literal also has a number of other uses. Most important of these, from the point of view of this book, are the use of literal in the phrase literal translation (Ch. 2.1.2), and literal meaning non-metaphorical (cf. Chapter 11). In the case of words, it is denotative meanings that are given in dictionary definitions. In fact, words may, and typically do, have more than one denotative meaning. The situation in which a word has more than one different and distinct denotative meaning or more technically more than one sense is known as polysemy. Polysemy can be illustrated by the word plain, which means (i) clear (as in a plain sky), (ii) unadorned (as in a plain paper bag), and (iii) obvious (as in its a plain case of forgery). There are sometimes problems in deciding between cases where two uses of a word represent more than one sense i.e. cases of polysemy and where the two uses in question are merely variants of a single overall sense. These need not, however, concern us here, since they are not typically of great importance for translation. (There are also problems in deciding between what constitutes two senses of a single word, and cases where two words happen to sound the same. This latter situation is known as homonymy. An example of homonymy which is fairly frequently quoted is bank = side of a river vs. bank = institution for
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the investment and borrowing of money. Again, these are not of great importance for translation, and need not concern us here.) A large proportion of a languages vocabulary is traditionally regarded as polysemous (or polysemic). Typically dictionaries list polysemous words under single heads, separating what they regard as the distinct senses of a word by a semi-colon, and what are regarded as merely variants of a single sense by a comma (the Hans Wehr Dictionary of modern written Arabic, for example, does this). Unfortunately, even dictionary definitions of words are not without their problems. This is because they impose, by abstraction and crystallization of one core sense (in the case of non-polysemous, or monosemous, words) or a series of core senses (in the case of polysemous words), a rigidity of meaning that words do not often show in reality. In addition, once words are put into a context, their denotative meanings become even more flexible. These two facts make it difficult to pin down the precise denotative meanings in any text of any complexity. The more literary the text, the more this is so; but it is true even of the most soberly informative texts. In this chapter, we shall discuss three degrees of semantic equivalence that is, how close given expressions are to having identical denotative meanings.
5.1.2 Hyperonymy-hyponymy An example where translators deviate from the pattern of translating an Arabic pronoun by a simple English pronoun hyperonym is al-Hilali and Khans translation of the initial word in , where they have Say, O Muhammad (cited in Ch. 1.5). Here, O Muhammad goes beyond relaying the fact that this is the equivalent of the Arabic masculine singular, to identifying precisely who it is that refers to. 5.1.3 Particularizing translation and generalizing translation Other situations in which particularization is acceptable include the following: (i) where the context implies something which is typically referred to in more specific terms in the TL than in the SL; thus an issued by a military commander is likely to be an ultimatum rather than simply a warning; a in a similar context is likely to be a proclamation or a communique rather than a statement; in the context of NATO raids on Kosovo are likely to be strikes or air-strikes rather than attacks; (ii) where the TL typically makes use of a specific collocation (cf. Ch. 6.6) which happens to involve a hyponym of the TL form; for example is likely to be translated as priceless treasure, rather than valuable treasure,
Grammatical issues in translation: Supplement
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since priceless treasure is the more common collocation in English. Particularizing translation may also be used for other reasons. For example, might be translated as ancient church in a particular context where this was appropriate to avoid the ambiguity of old church, since this latter could be interpreted to mean former church instead of the intended old [= not new] church. That is to say, old in English is polysemous between the two senses of old and former, and in this context, it would not necessarily be clear to the reader which of the two senses was intended. Other situations in which generalization is acceptable include: (i) where the context implies something which is typically referred to in more specific terms in the SL than in the TL. For instance, it is common to refer to a room as in Arabic, to mean not just that it is small but that it is rather too small. In many contexts in English, however, a suitable translation of would be the generalizing small room, a particularizing translation such as cramped room being reserved for contexts in which it was important to stress that the room was too small. Similarly, in Arabic is regularly used to refer to any small bird. In translating the phrase , it is likely to be sufficient to say small bird, although properly speaking what is being meant is a specific small member of the class of small birds (i.e. a bird that is small even among small birds); (ii) where the TL typically makes use of a specific collocation (cf. Ch. 6.6) which involves a hyperonym of the SL form. For instance, denotatively means for the first moment. However, in English the normal phrase is for the first time. Similarly means old and worn out of clothes. However, in many contexts would be happily translatable by the standard collocation old clothes. Generalizing translation can also be used for many other reasons. Consider the following: [...] This has been translated (Ives 999:11) as: Whatever the legal problems linked to NATO intervention, to which I myself have recently referred [...] Here the generalizing form recently is preferred to the denotative equivalent a few days ago mainly because it results in a less wordy overall phrase. (Recently also allows the translator to use the present perfect have ... referred which adds a sense of immediacy and relevance to the statement; a few days ago would require the use of the simple past referred.) Generalizing translation is not acceptable if the TL does offer suitable alternatives, or if the omitted details are important in the ST but not implied
22
or compensated for in the TT context. An example of this would seem to be al-Hilali and Khans translation of in discussed above ( 5.1.2). It seems likely that the inclusion of the compensatory phrase O Muhammad is motivated here by the perception of the translators that is not acceptable in this context to present the possibility that the reader (or some other person than the Prophet Muhammad) is being addressed. For another example of particularizing translation, consider the word ,which means husband of ones daughter, son-in-law; husband of ones sister, brother-in-law (Wehr); these different possibilities can be taken as variants of a single sense (i.e. this is not a case of polysemy; cf. Supplement 5.1). Translating as son-in-law in a particular case would be an example of particularizing translation, since it would explicitly rule out a part of what can be meant by ( i.e. brother-in-law). Generalization is acceptable if the TL offers no suitable alternative and the omitted detail is either unimportant in the ST or is implied in the TT context. For instance, and in Sudanese Arabic are both words for cooking pot, the difference being that refers to something bigger than . For most translation purposes into English, however, the distinction could probably be ignored, and cooking pot would be a sufficient translation.
5.1.4 Partially overlapping translation The typical uses of partially overlapping translation parallel those of particularizing translation and generalizing translation. Thus partially overlapping translation may be used where the context implies something which is typically referred to by a term in the TL whose denotative meaning overlaps with the denotative meaning of the SL term. For example a poem by the Syrian poet contains the line . This has been translated (Rolph 1995: 23) as They attacked her like a young sparrow until they killed her. here overlaps in meaning with young. Some but not all spring sparrows are young, and some but not all young sparrows are spring sparrows (one could have a sparrow which was, abnormally, born in summer). Spring sparrow, however, is a problematic phrase in English; it does not have a clear meaning, and there is nothing in this overall context to make the intended meaning clearer in the English (spring sparrow also yields an unfortunate collocative clash with spring chicken; cf. Ch. 6.6). Accordingly, the translator has chosen a more contextually acceptable overlapping expression. Partially overlapping translation may also be used where the TL typically makes use of a specific collocation (Ch. 6.6) which happens to overlap in meaning with the meaning of the SL term. An example of this is , which is typically translated as the clearest evidence of this (clearest evidence being a more standard collocation in English than the
23
literal best evidence). Clear/clearest and overlap with one another in meaning; some but not all good things are clear, and some but not all clear things are good. Another example is coup perpetrators for , which might typically be translated as coup perpetrators or [the] perpetrators of coups (coup men or men of coups being quite abnormal in English). Perpetrators and overlap with one another; some but not all perpetrators are men (other perpetrators, even of coups, might be women), and some but not all men are perpetrators (there are, or could no doubt be, men who have never perpetrated anything in their lives).
5.2 SEMANTIC REPETITION IN ARABIC It will be seen that both semantic repetition and other forms of parallelism typically involve repetition of the same grammatical category or categories. In the case of single words, this is fairly trivial; what is repeated is a noun or a verb or whatever. In the case of repetition of whole phrases, however, the effect can be much more striking. Consider the following from an article by the Egyptian journalist from 12 , September 1982 : ]..[ [...] This extract makes use of four verb-object combinations: , , ] [ , and ] [ ,[ ] as well as the initial verb-prepositional object combination . The parallelism is reinforced by the fact that each of these phrases begins with . 5.2.2 List restructuring One particularly striking feature of parallelism in Arabic is a tendency to use fairly long lists of terms belonging to the same semantic field. The following examples are taken from a political article in the Egyptian magazine ( no. 3521, Dec. 4, 1995), which criticizes the use of political violence in the Middle East. They compare the behaviour of the Prophet Adam with that of extremist political groups and individuals in the modern Middle East (from Hetherington 1996: 19, 20): .. ..
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Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement .. . .. } [...] {
} .. ! { In the case of the first extract a translation of the list in curly brackets along the lines violence, anger, fanaticism, false superiority, bigotry, insurrection, pain and infighting would clearly be possible, as would a translation along the lines kill, take up arms, detonate bombs, massacre, brainwash, break bones, and forbid originality in the case of the second extract. In both cases, however, such a translation seems a little strained in English, reflecting the tendency of English to avoid such long lists. In some contexts an appropriate strategy in translating long lists into English is simply to reduce the listed elements. Thus ties of blood and marriage would in many contexts be a sufficient translation of ( cf. Humphrys 1999: 7); and similarly, based upon kinship, marriage, and ethnic and tribal origin would be a sufficient translation of ( cf. Humphrys 1999: 7). One function of listing in Arabic seems to be to suggest an overall scene or situation by extensive exemplification of aspects of that scene or situation. In a number of contexts an appropriate strategy in translating into English is to reduce the listed elements, and to substitute other information which provides a summary account of the overall scene or situation. Consider the following, which describes the behaviour of senior military figures in the Arab world: : } . This might be translated (cf. Humphrys 1999: 7-8) as: Like politicians, they insist upon all the outward trappings of privilege: mansions, palaces, bodyguards, and all the finery that money can buy. This translation omits specific translation of the later listed elements in the Arabic, , utilizing instead the phrase all the finery which money can buy; i.e. the English
Grammatical issues in translation: Supplement summarizes while the Arabic exemplifies. The following is a fairly similar example from the same book:
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} .{ This has been translated (Humphrys 1999: 3) as: We fear the officer forcing his way into civilian life, {imposing his will and laying the law down}. Here again the English provides a summary account of the officers behaviour, using the two parallel composite phrases imposing his will and laying the law down, while the Arabic exemplifies the kind of things he does through the four verbs . Because English does not so readily use exemplification through listing to suggest an overall scene or situation as does Arabic, it is sometimes appropriate when translating into English to insert a summary phrase, even when it seems reasonable to retain all or most of the elements of the original Arabic list. Consider the following, which is taken from an account of the internal leadership elections of the Phalange ( )party in Lebanon in 1999. } .{{ } This has been translated (Jones 1999: 8) as follows: The ghost of 1992 was present in force, with {countless meetings} taking place in any available space: {on the balconies, in side offices, and even on the outside stairs}. The Arabic ST here has two lists: ][ , and . The first of these is summarized in English as countless meetings, while the second is retained in full (and in fact strengthened by the addition of even before on the balconies). However, before the second list in the English, the translator has inserted the additional summarizing phrase in every available space. (The translation also contains a somewhat unfortunate mixed metaphor ghost [...] present in force; cf. Ch. 11.4.)
26 PRACTICAL 5
Practical 5.3 Semantic repetition, parallelism and list restructuring Assignment (i) Discuss the strategic problems confronting the translator of the following text, and outline your strategy for dealing with them. You are to translate the text as part of an From the Arab Press section of the English version of the Egyptian daily newspaper ( the English-language version of this has a certain degree of independence from official political pressure). The intended readership is mainly expatriate English-speakers in Egypt, plus some other readers worldwide, who are likely to have quite a good knowledge of Middle Eastern culture and affairs. (ii) Translate the text into English. (iii) Explain the decisions of detail you made in producing your translation. Contextual information This passage is taken an article entitled from the weekly Egyptian news magazine ( no. 3521, Dec. 4, 1995). The article by is entitled . The general theme of the article is the negative political effects of religious fundamentalism in the Middle East (text taken from Hetherington 1996: 34-35). This particular section deals with the behaviour of religious extremists.
Grammatical issues in translation: Supplement ST
72
)( . .. . .. .. .. .. . .. .. - - .. .. .. .. ! .. .
6 Connotative meaning and translation issues: Supplement

_______________________________ 6.7 REFLECTED MEANING More complex cases of reflected meaning also occur, where parts of phrases are involved in a form of polysemy. One frequently quoted example compares the connotative difference between the two synonyms Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit (Leech 1981: 19). Through polysemous association, the Ghost part of Holy Ghost is reminiscent of the reflected meaning of ghost (spook or spectre). Although such an association is not part of the denotative meaning of Holy Ghost, it has a tendency to form part of the overall meaning of the expression, and therefore often actually interferes with its denotative meaning. By another, polysemous association the Spirit part of Holy Spirit may call to mind the reflected meaning of spirits (alcoholic drinks); here again, the association tends to interfere with the denotative meaning. Clearly, then, while Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost are referential synonyms, their total semantic effects cannot be called identical, in so far as they evoke different images through different reflected meanings.
7 Phonic/graphic and prosodic issues in translation: Supplement

_______________________________ 7.1.1 Alliteration, assonance and rhyme In literary STs, especially poetry, marked phonic features very often have a thematic and expressive function that is, the message would be less complex and have less impact without them. Whether these effects are triggered or not is very much a matter of genre of what the text is for and what the public is expecting. It is even possible, for example, to imagine the mining sentence as part of a poem. If it were, the purpose of the text would be different, and the readers/listeners expectations would be different. The phonic features would have an expressive function, and ignoring them might incur unacceptable translation loss. We shall consider further aspects of assonance under pattern repetition (Ch. 8.2.3.1), root repetition (Ch. 8.2.3.2), and suffix repetition (Ch. 8.2.3.3).
7.2 THE PROSODIC LEVEL This section provides some further discussion of the following ST and TT, considered in 7.2: ST
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Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement .
TT (adapted) No doubt, the achievements of the petroleum sector during the past 18 years represent a triumph for the workers in this sector, and reflect the policies and efforts which have been pursued during this period. When No doubt is placed at the beginning of a sentence in English, it acquires a sense of emphasis (technically, it becomes an emphatic theme: cf. Ch. 9.2.2.2). The English TT could be improved somewhat by changing No doubt to There is no doubt that (since this removes the no doubt element from the emphatic initial position in the sentence), although even here the possibility of a contrastive interpretation with a rising intonation pattern remains. Thus: There is no doubt that the achievements of the petroleum sector during the past 18 years represent a triumph for the workers in this sector, and reflect the policies and efforts which have been pursued during this period. (For a generally more acceptable translation, see 7.2.) For further discussion of the contrastive function of initial phrases expressing doubt in Arabic, see Hatim (1997). For further discussion of intonation and stress, see Ch. 9.2.1, 9.2.2.1.
7.2 .2 Translating Arabic verse As with rhyme, there may sometimes be very little reason for translating ST verse into TT verse. This might be the case where the verse itself is particularly trivial, and where it is being used mainly for humorous effect. Under such circumstances, a prose TT form might be appropriate which relays the denotative meaning (Chapter 5) of the ST and achieves an equivalent (cf. Ch. 2) degree of humour by some other means such as allusion (cf. Ch. 10.3.2). Similarly, a translator would probably be constrained to translate as prose a verse form used in the ST in a context where verse is not appropriate in the target culture. An example is the use of verse at a wedding, which is a feature of some Arabic societies, but not normally of English-speaking ones. It is essential for the translator to consider such issues, before he or she can take a reasoned decision either to translate into prose or couch the TT in an appropriate verse-form.
Phonic/graphic and prosodic issues in translation: Supplement PRACTICAL 7 Practical 7.3 The prosodic level
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Assignment Turn back to the translations of the portion of by Arberry and Sells given in Supplement, Chapter 2. What strategies do these two translations adopt with regard to the prosodic level? In your opinion which translation works better on this level, and why?
Practical 7.4 The phonic/graphic and prosodic levels Assignment (i) Discuss the strategic decisions that you have to take before starting detailed translation of the following text, and outline and justify the strategy you adopt. You have been asked to translate these poems for an anthology of poems entitled Wars words: poetry of conflict from around the globe . (ii) Translate the poems into an appropriate poetic English form. (iii) Explain the decisions of detail which you made in producing your TTs, especially those involving compensation. Contextual information These poems (from )7643 ,443 :1891 are the second and fourth in a series of poems by dealing with the Lebanese civil war and collectively entitled . They are simply numbered 2 and 4 in the original collection (as they are here). Beirut is addressed in the second person (feminine singular) throughout. is Syrian by origin, but lived in Lebanon for many years, attracted there by the greater freedom of expression than in his own country. is a leading exponent of modern Arabic free verse. His writing typically combines simplicity with elegance. Much of his poetry deals with romantic love, but he is also known for his political and social themes.
23 ST
.. )( )( .. - .. .. ... ... ... - - .. .. .. .. ... - .. ....
8 Grammatical issues in translation: Supplement

_______________________________ 8.2 THE GRAMMATICAL LEVEL The essentials of morphology are not difficult to understand. Words in both English and Arabic are made up of bits, these bits being known in linguistics as morphemes. Thus, in English, the word unfortunately can be regarded as being made up of four morphemes un-, fortune, -ate, and -ly. Traditionally, the morphemes which make up English words are classified as stems and affixes. The stem is the central bit of the word; in the case of unfortunately, the stem is fortune. Affixes are the non-central bits of the word, which come either before or after the stem. Affixes which come before the stem are known as prefixes; in the case of unfortunately, un- is a prefix. Affixes which come after the stem are known as suffixes; in the case of unfortunately, -ate and -ly are suffixes. Like English, Arabic has both prefixes and suffixes. Thus in the word they go, is a prefix (indicating 3rd person), while is a suffix (indicating masculine plural). More strikingly for an English learner Arabic does not really have stems along the lines of English. Rather, it operates with a system of root morphemes and pattern morphemes. Consider the word fortunate. Here the basic notion of luck or fortune is conveyed by the consonants , this element being traditionally known in English as the root (Arabic .) The fact that this is an adjective is conveyed by the arrangement of vowels which are interpolated between these letters. This arrangement of vowels is known in English as the pattern (Arabic weight, poetic measure), and is traditionally represented using the dummy verb , as a convenient peg. Thus, the word is said to be on the
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pattern. While English fortunate consists of a stem morpheme fortune and a suffix morpheme -ate, the root morpheme and the pattern morpheme which make the Arabic word are completely interlinked with one another. This situation is sometimes referred to as transfixing (cf. Bauer 2003: 30-31). We shall consider various issues in relation to Arabic morphology in particular later in this chapter. Morphology yields words of various classes; traditionally in English words are said to belong to one of eight word classes, or what are traditionally known as parts of speech: noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, preposition, conjunction, adverb, and interjection. And although this division is not traditionally used for Arabic, it does work fairly well for Arabic, particularly when viewed from the perspective of English. The combination of words into phrases does not pose particular theoretical problems, although we may note in passing that the use of the word phrase in linguistics tends to be much more closely defined than is typically appropriate for translation purposes. More problematic is the combination of words and phrases into sentences, or rather what we termed above syntactic sentences, and it is this that we turn to next.
8.2.0 The definition of syntactic sentence in English and Arabic There are two basic ways of defining a syntactic sentence: in purely grammatical terms, and in more occurrence-oriented terms. These two do not always yield the same results, in that what is a syntactic sentence in one sense may not be a syntactic sentence in the other. Both approaches, however, have their theoretical virtues, as well as their practical implications for translation. We shall therefore briefly consider the two approaches.
8.2.0.1 Grammatical definition of syntactic sentence The following is a very brief account of the fundamentals of English and Arabic sentence structure, and it necessarily simplifies and omits many issues. It is intended only as a general guide to this aspect of the two languages for the purposes of analyzing features of Arabic>English translation, and particularly, as we shall see in Chapters 9 and 10, features related to theme and rheme, mainness and subordination, and cohesion and coherence. Readers who are interested in more detailed accounts of the grammatical structures of the two languages should consult specialist works such as Leech and Svartvik (1994) for English, and Beeston (1970) and Holes (1995) for Arabic.
Grammatical issues in translation: Supplement 8.2.0.1.1 English
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Traditionally, the syntactic sentence in English is analyzed into a number of syntactic elements. Every syntactic sentence is said to have a verb; Thus, the imperative, Stop! is a syntactic sentence. Every non-imperative syntactic sentence has as a subject as well as a verb; thus, They stop is a syntactic sentence, in which They is the subject and stop is a verb. Additionally, some syntactic sentences may have objects; in the syntactic sentence, They stop the car, the car is an object. While most verbs take nominal objects (noun-based objects, such as the car in They stop the car, some verbs take prepositional objects (preposition-based objects). An example is on you in I rely on you. The verb to be is somewhat exceptional to this general pattern in that it is described as taking a complement, rather than an object. Thus, in the house is the complement in the syntactic sentence They are in the house; happy is the complement in the syntactic sentence We were happy; and geniuses is a complement in the syntactic sentence You are geniuses. The elements SUBJECT-VERB-OBJECT can be complex as well as simple; They is a simple one-word subject in They stop the car, while the car in this example is a complex phrase (consisting of the and car). The fast car and the very fast car are more complex still. In all cases, however, the phrase beginning with the and ending with car functions as the object of the verb stop. Verb phrases (i.e. phrases made up of verbs) may also be complex. Examples are may stop in They may stop the car, and should have stopped in They should have stopped the car. Irrespective of the simpleness or complexity of the elements which make them up, however, syntactic sentences in English may all be analyzed as having a main structure consisting of [SUBJECT]VERB-[OBJECT] (optional elements are here placed in square brackets). Mainness in traditional English grammar contrasts with subordination. Sometimes the terms subordinate and subordination are used to describe elements which are directly dependent on a central element of the main structure of the syntactic sentence. Thus, in the syntactic sentence They stopped the car which had been speeding along the motorway, the relative clause which had been speeding along the motorway is a subordinate clause with respect to the noun the car. In this case, it is easy to see that the car is the central element of the whole phrase the car which had been speeding along the motorway. This is demonstrated by the fact that it is possible to omit the element which had been speeding along the motorway and still retain a grammatically acceptable syntactic sentence: They stopped the car. It is not, however, possible to omit the element the car and retain a grammatically acceptable syntactic sentence; we cannot say in English They stopped which had been speeding along the motorway. An aspect of subordination which is more important for our current purposes
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is subordination of elements to the entire main part of the syntactic sentence. The following are examples of such subordinate elements: at three-o-clock in the sentence At three-o-clock they stopped the car; out of frustration in They stopped the car out of frustration; for petrol in They stopped the car for petrol; near the cafe in Near the cafe they stopped the car; and all of a sudden in All of a sudden they stopped the car. Such subordinate elements are said to function as adverbials, i.e. they work like adverbs. This can be seen from the fact that in some cases at least it is possible to replace the subordinate phrase by a one-word adverb (normally ending in -ly); thus, not only can we say All of a sudden they stopped the car. We can also say, Suddenly they stopped the car. All the subordinate elements just discussed are non-verbal (i.e. they do not contain a verb); and with the exception of the single word suddenly, they are all non-verbal phrases. It is also possible, however, to have clausal subordinate elements of the same type as these. By clausal we mean here containing a verb. Such clausal subordinate elements are known as subordinate clauses. Examples of subordinate clauses (together with a main clause) are: When three-o-clock came, they stopped the car; feeling totally frustrated in feeling totally frustrated they stopped the car; in order to buy petrol in They stopped the car in order to buy petrol; and As soon as they got near the cafe in As soon as they got near the cafe, they stopped the car. Forms which introduce subordinate clauses, such as when, in order to , to (in the sense of in order to), and as soon as can be termed subordinating conjunctions (the -ing on the end of feeling in feeling totally frustrated can also be called a subordinator). In traditional English grammar, subordination typically involving subordinating conjunctions is contrasted with coordination. This latter involves the use of coordinating conjunctions between two main clauses, the most important of these coordinating conjunctions being and and but. Thus, They stopped the car, and they bought petrol is an example of clausal coordination. Here the two main clauses They stopped the car and they bought petrol are linked by the coordinating conjunction and. This can be compared with They stopped the car in order to buy petrol. Here, the main clause They stopped the car is linked to the subordinate clause buy petrol by the subordinating conjunction in order to.
8.2.0.1.2 Arabic The following analysis of the Arabic sentence draws partly on traditional Arabic analyses and partly on modern western-based analyses. It is designed to allow for fairly simple comparison between the structures of Arabic and English. The syntactic sentence in Arabic has similarities to the syntactic sentence
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in English, as well as some dissimilarities. The major dissimilarities lie at the most basic level of sentence structure. In English, as we have seen, from the point of view of overall sentence structure, the main part of the syntactic sentence can be analyzed as [SUBJECT]-VERB-[OBJECT]. In Arabic, the basic element in the sentence can be termed the predicate. In fact some syntactic sentences in Arabic consist of a predicate only. An example is ! Stop!; another example is It [fem.] stops. As these examples show, in Arabic both imperatives and non-imperatives may be subjectless, whereas the only English syntactic sentences which may not contain subjects are imperatives (such as Stop!). Where an Arabic syntactic sentence consists of a predicate only, this predicate is always a verb. More commonly Arabic syntactic sentences consist of a subject and a predicate. (In fact, according to the traditional Arab linguists even a single-word syntactic sentence such as It stops contains a subject and a predicate, the subject in this case being a hidden pronoun, , in the verb itself. For present purposes we do not need to worry about the merits or otherwise of this analysis.) An example of a subject-predicate syntactic sentence is The car stops. Here the subject is and the predicate is the verb .Traditionally in Arabic, the subject is known as the and the predicate is known as the . Where the Arabic syntactic sentence contains a subject as well as a predicate, the predicate may be something other than a verb. It may, for instance, be a noun, as in The car is a tool, or an adjective as in The car is quick, or a prepositional phrase as in The cars behind the house. The predicate may also be more complex, and itself consist of a subject and a predicate. Thus in This car, its driver is famous (i.e. The driver of this car is famous), is a subject, and is a predicate. Within the predicate , however, there is a secondary, subsidiary subject and a secondary subsidiary predicate ( for further discussion of basic sentence-types in Arabic, cf. Dickins and Watson 1999: 337-340). As in English, verbs in Arabic may take objects (or in the case of the verb to be complements). Thus in The man stops the car, is the object of the verb .Verbs in Arabic may also take prepositional objects as well as nominal objects. Thus we can regard as the object of in I rely on you. As in English elements of the syntactic sentence may be simple as well as complex. Thus is already a complex of ; + this phrase can then be made more complex; e.g. or . As in English also, subordination in Arabic can be of various forms. Thus a relative clause which was speeding along the road is subordinate to the noun in the syntactic sentence They stopped the car which was speeding along the road.
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In summary, Arabic has a basic syntactic sentence pattern [SUBJECT]PREDICATE. Where there is no subject, the predicate must be a verb, and where there is a subject the predicate may be either a verb or another element, such as a noun (or noun phrase), adjective (or adjective phrase), or prepositional phrase. Just as everything which falls outside the main [SUBJECT]VERB-[OBJECT] pattern in English is subordinate and adverbial with respect to the main clause, so everything which falls outside the [SUBJECT]PREDICATE pattern in Arabic is subordinate and adverbial with respect to the main clause. In Arabic these non-main parts of the syntactic sentence are known as the ,the residue. Again as in English, in Arabic it is possible to have non-clausal elements which are subordinate to the main clause. Examples are: in Suddenly they stopped the car; and in They stopped the car at three-o-clock. Equally, it is possible to have clausal elements which are subordinate to the main clause. In this latter case, such clausal elements do not necessarily contain a verb, as they must in English, but they must normally conform to the pattern [SUBJECT]-PREDICATE, which is also found in main clauses. (There are one or two exceptions to this rule, but they need not concern us here.) An example of a subordinate clausal element of this nature i.e. a subordinate clause is in They stopped the car when the clock struck three. Here is a subordinating conjunction. In Arabic as well as in English, subordination of clauses may be contrasted with coordination of clauses. The three coordinating conjunctions in Arabic are ( when not used in a - construction), ,and ( cf. Dickins and Watson 1999: 571-6). All other conjunctions (including when used in a - construction) are subordinating. Thus in They stopped the car in order to buy petrol, the particle is a subordinating conjunction, and is a subordinate clause. In , on the other hand, is a coordinating conjunction and and are both main clauses. 8.2.0.2 Occurrence-based definition of syntactic sentence The above grammatical definitions of syntactic sentence in English and Arabic are important in practical terms not only because they provide a means of analyzing sentences in the two languages, but because in formal writing in particular, syntactic sentences are expected to conform to these patterns. This means that in translating Arabic into formal English, one would expect, all other things being equal, all syntactic sentences to conform to the patterns outlined in Supplement 8.2.0.1.1.
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However, it is also possible to adopt another more occurrence-based definition of syntactic sentence. Communicatively, we may define a syntactic sentence as a string of words which is not necessarily a complete grammatical syntactic sentence but can nonetheless be uttered in isolation, such that its use is felt to be complete or sufficient in the context in which it is used. Consider again the following, which we saw earlier in Ch. 7.2: ST : : . . . . . : . TT (adapted from Tunnicliffe 1994: 12) Have you checked in?, she asked. He shook his head and said, Almost. Did you ask for a room with a bathroom? Yes. Good. Give me the number; my room hasnt got one. And then she added: I get fed up with the dirt. A lot of informal language usages do not in fact conform to the grammatical rules laid out in Supplement 8.2.0.1.1 and 8.3.0.1.2. In the above Arabic ST, , , and do not; and neither in the English TT do the corresponding Almost, Yes, and Good. Examples of this type are quite typical of informal and particularly spoken language. In traditional linguistic thought, attempts have been made to explain the discrepancies between what formal grammatical analysis dictates syntactic sentences should consist of, and what they do in fact consist of. These attempts apply the notion of ellipsis; i.e. the omission of elements from a syntactic sentence which formal grammar dictates ought to be there. And traditionally in both Arabic and English grammar, complex rules have been devised to describe ways in which particular elements of the syntactic sentence may or may not be ellipted. The details of these need not concern us here, although we may note that in many cases there are serious problems with the practical operation of ellipsis. No way for example seems a perfectly reasonable informal statement of
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disbelief or refusal. It is difficult to see, however, what it could be elliptical for. (A form such as There is no way that can be true, for example, not only sounds a communicatively implausible non-elliptical version of No way. It is also quite arbitrary, in that there seems no principled way in which we could determine whether No way was elliptical for There is no way that can be true, or Theres no way Im going to believe you, or any number of other expressions giving roughly the same idea.) Whatever the relationship between the grammatical and the occurrencebased syntactic sentence, the important issue from a translation point of view is to take into consideration when it is appropriate to use a grammatical syntactic sentence, and when it is, or may be, better to use an occurrence-based syntactic sentence.
8.2.2 Grammatical arrangement Noun-adjective compounds, such as , throw up similar issues to genitive compounds. In English it is possible to make adjectives from compound nouns of this type; thus Middle Eastern from Middle East. In Arabic, it is not traditionally possible to do this. Accordingly, the name of an academic institution The Centre for Middle Eastern Studies would have to be translated into Arabic as the complex genitive .As in the case of the phrase , discussed in 8.2.2, this means that a phrase such as is ambiguous between The New Centre for Middle Eastern Studies and The Centre for the Studies of the New Middle East (or more idiomatically The Centre for the Study of the New Middle East). Again, this is likely to generate periphrastic structures in Arabic, utilizing and other forms, providing opportunities for translators into English to find conciser, more tightly structured translation equivalents. More recently, Arabic has begun to develop adjectival compounds based on noun-adjective compound nouns. So, from the Middle East one now comes across Middle Eastern. Accordingly, American Middle-East policy might now be translated into Arabic as ( note the use of only a single in the definite phrase .) However, given that forms of the type are met with extreme disapproval by linguistic purists in the Middle East, one is relatively unlikely to encounter them outside the realm of politics and related matters. Thus, The Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Durham in England is translated into Arabic in official documents as , rather than the more concise , even though the former involves a repetition of which is slightly inelegant because it involves the use of the word in the first instance without
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and in the second instance with the definite article .The translator from Arabic to English, faced with a form such as is likely to have to find the original name in an English source in order to work out what the correct English form is.
8.2.3.1 Pattern repetition Pattern repetition by definition involves assonance (Ch. 7.1.1); and the more frequently the pattern is repeated, the greater the assonance will be, as well as the greater the degree of emphasis conveyed. Consider the following: { } }{ }{ .... This has been translated (Calderbank 1990: 16) as: In short, these various currents began to exercise an unprecedented influence whether positive or negative on all aspects of economic, social, political and intellectual life. {They thus became locked in a desperate struggle} for the intellectual leadership of an Egyptian society, the great majority of whose members were still living a simple, traditional life ... Here the translator has transposed the ST three-verb structure ({} { )} { }grammatically, as a composite verb-prepositionalobject phrase became locked in a desperate struggle. He has also made use of alliteration and assonance (d/t, s, l), giving the English an added sense of emphasis. Finally, pattern repetition may give rise to rhymes where the roots involved have radicals with the same final one or two letters. Sometimes such rhyme like some examples of rhyme elsewhere will be best ignored in the English translation. An example of this is translated as the project of unification and reform (from a Lebanese newspaper article dealing with changes in the Lebanese Phalange Party). Elsewhere something more striking may be called for in the English TT, such as alliteration, assonance or rhyme, or possibly an appropriate English clich, as in the case of the formulaic , which might be translated as in good times or bad.
42 PRACTICAL 8
Practical 8.2 Lexical item repetition Assignment (i) Paying particular attention to lexical item repetition in the ST, discuss the strategic decisions that you have to take before starting detailed translation of the following text, and outline and justify the strategy you adopt. Your translation should be aimed at an educated, but nonspecialist readership, and will be published as a book. (ii) Translate the text into English. (iii) Explain the decisions of detail you made in producing your translation. Contextual information The ST is a from a book entitled by ( Humphrys 1999: 10). It deals with the relationship between political power and the military in the Arab world and is aimed at the interested non-specialist reader. ST . . ) ( . .
9 Sentential issues in translation: Supplement

_______________________________ 9.2 THE SENTENTIAL LEVEL As noted in 9.2, a sentence can be defined as a complete, self-contained and ready-made vehicle for communication: nothing needs to be added before it can be uttered and understood in concrete situations. From a more theoretical perspective, the difference between what we termed a syntactic sentence in the Supplement (Ch. 8.2.0) and a sentence in the full sense, as we are using it here, is as follows: a syntactic sentence is just a collection of words arranged in a grammatical pattern, whereas a sentence (in the full sense) is more than this. This is evident in spoken language. Any spoken sentence has in addition to the words it contains a particular intonation pattern; in fact it is virtually impossible to speak a sentence without some features of rhythm and stress, and where these are artificially removed, as can be done with synthetic speech, the results are almost incomprehensible (indeed, even where such intonation features are not fully developed as is sometimes the case with artificial speech on telephone answering services the results are extremely odd). That a sentence is more than a collection of words arranged in a grammatical pattern is also evident from the fact that in grammatical terms (as we have described them in Ch. 8.2.0.1.1), They stopped the car at three-o-clock and At three-o-clock they stopped the car are identical (i.e. they both consist of a main clause They stopped the car plus a subordinate element at three-oclock). They are clearly not, however, identical in terms of word order. Nor, as we shall see ( 9.2.2, 9.2.2.2) are they identical in terms of the weighting they give to the bits of information conveyed. We should note here, that although this chapter deals with sentential
44
issues in translation, it is often impossible both in translation and in linguistic analysis to consider one sentence in isolation from other surrounding sentences. Discussion at various points in the chapter will therefore sometimes go beyond the level of the single sentence, with the intention, however, of explicating features at the level of the individual sentence.
9.2.2 Theme and rheme In terms of overall information structure theme and rheme can be looked at in two ways. The first is as a cline, or continuous progression. Thus, in a sentence Ayatollah Khomeini was the son of a cleric, it is possible to think of there being a continuous progression throughout the sentence from the most predictable information Ayatollah Khomeini to the most unpredictable information a cleric. Elements at various stages on this cline are sometimes said to differ in terms of their communicative dynamism (cf. Baker 1992: 161-4). The second way of thinking about theme and rheme is in terms of discrete chunks. Thus, in When she got there, the cupboard was bare, it makes sense to regard the cupboard was bare as the overall rhematic (i.e. less predictable) chunk, in contrast to When she got there, which is the overall thematic (i.e. more predictable) chunk. Within each chunk one can make further analysis of a theme-rheme nature. Thus, within the cupboard was bare, we can think of the cupboard as being theme (theme-within-rheme), and bare (or was bare, perhaps) as being rheme (rheme-within-rheme). In some cases it might be possible to set up multiple Chinese boxes of this nature. Alternatively, it is possible to combine chunk and cline analyses; so having got our two chunks, When she was there and the cupboard was bare, we might prefer to analyze each of these further in terms of a themeto-rheme cline, rather than through additional chunking. The question of clines vs. chunks is interesting from a theoretical linguistic point of view, and solutions to the apparent incompatibility of the two approaches could be pursued there. From the point of view of translation practice, it is reasonable to mix the two approaches, and adopt whichever one seems more appropriate for the particular problem in hand.
9.2.2.3 Basic theme-rheme translation issues One particularly interesting feature of Arabic from the point of view of theme and rheme is the distinction between clauses and sentences which have Verb-first word order (e.g. Verb-Subject-Object word order), and clauses and sentences which have Subject-first word order (e.g. Subject-Verb-Object word order). This is of greater relevance to English>Arabic translation than
Sentential issues in translation: Supplement
45
to Arabic>English translation, since there it normally makes no difference to the standard English word order which places the subject before the verb whether an Arabic text has the verb first or something else first. We can term texts which deal with the real world in a fairly neutral way empirical texts (cf. . 13.2). Within such empirical texts, we can also make a fairly traditional distinction between narrative texts on the one hand, i.e. those texts which describe events, and descriptive or conceptual texts on the other, i.e. those elements which describe static scenes or abstract relationships. In Arabic, narrative texts (and narrative sections of texts) tend to use Verb-first word order, and descriptive and conceptual texts (and descriptive/conceptual sections of texts) tend to use Subject-first word order. The initial sentence element in these cases reflects the general orientation of the text in question. Narrative texts are action-oriented (or event-oriented), actions (or events) being expressed through the use of verbs. In narrative texts (or sections of text) the event is accordingly more predictable than the other elements (if we are tell a story, for example, we know that things will happen). Descriptive and conceptual texts (or sections of text), on the other hand, are scene-oriented, static scenes being expressed through the use of nouns. In such texts (or sections of text) the characters or features involved are more predictable than the other elements (if we are describing a scene, we know that there will be features of the scene to be described). In a narrative action-oriented text, or section of text, therefore, the writer tends to begin a clause by presenting an event (i.e. the verb, which is presented as predictable information) and then saying something about those involved in the event (i.e. the characters, or entities referred to by the subject, object, etc., which is presented as unpredictable information). In a descriptive or conceptual scene-oriented text, or section of text, the writer tends begin a clause by presenting a character, feature or entity (i.e. a subject noun, which is presented as given information) and then saying something about this character, feature or entity (using a verb with a possible object, or a predicate noun, etc., which is presented as new information). Consider the following text from ( October 11,1994) about the satirical Palestinian cartoonist , who was murdered by an unidentified gunman in London in 1987. Relevant verbs and subjects are put in curly brackets, and labelled verb or subject. { 6391 subject { } verb} 84 . { subject{ } verb } {verb. }
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Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement { 36 subject} . [...] { verb { }subject} { verb { }subject . } .
In sentences which contain both a verb and a subject, the verb in this extract comes first in the narrative sections (paragraphs 1 and 2), which relate aspects of s life. In descriptive/conceptual sections (paragraph 3), by contrast, the verb comes before the subject. It will also be seen that the word order subject-verb in the conceptual sections mirrors the word order subjectpredicate which occurs in sentences without a main verb (e.g. in the first sentence of this text; here is the subject and ... is the predicate). Since sentences without a main verb are common in description and conceptual exposition, and since the verb in subject-verb sentences is also a kind of predicate, it will be seen that the general standard word order for description and conceptual exposition tends to be subject-predicate. For further discussion of these issues, see Holes (1995: 2656); also Dickins and Watson (1999: 34850). It is also worth stressing that what is important here is the type of material, not the tense of the verb. Thus, while description and conceptual exposition tend to have imperfect ( )verbs in Arabic, and tend to have subject-verb word order, not all types of text involving imperfect verbs will have this word order. Where the imperfect verbs express repeated action or are used to describe narrative (imperfect describing past events, for example), the word order will tend to be verb first. This can be seen in the text from (Practical 7.2). Here all the verbs except the first verb in the text are in the imperfect. The word order throughout, however, is verb-subject. It is worth noting that apparently not all distinctions between the use of verb-first structures, and subject-first structures can be explained in terms of theme-rheme features. Consider the following from a short story by the Iraqi writer ( quoted in Somekh 1991: 32): .. .. : . . . . . . .
Sentential issues in translation: Supplement This can be translated as follows:
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The gray threads were beginning to darken. How frightening are the tales of the night. His mother had said to him: The devils come out at night to fight each other. A shudder passed through his little body, and his feet sank deep into the sand. His father used to tell the villagers that he fought against the jinns both asleep and awake. Their horns were crooked and sharp. In this case the old man wasnt lying; it was true. This text mainly depicts the thoughts and feelings of a village boy, haunted by the fear of jinns as night approaches. As Somekh (1991: 32) notes, wherever the text can be taken as expressing the boys thoughts (whether these provide general descriptions of exterior events, such as the first clause , or more psychologically oriented judgements such as ) the word order is subject-first. However, wherever the text describes exterior events from a neutral standpoint (or from the point of view of the narrator, as in traditional narrative), the word order used is verb-first (e.g. ,) as one would expect in a standard narrative context. Another context in which theme-rheme considerations seem irrelevant to word order is newspaper headlines. Here the word order is always Subject-first (where there is a verb in the headline), notwithstanding the fact that news stories are unambiguous examples of Arabic narrative texts (cf. Dickins and Watson 1999: 154). In fact, in general, there seems to be a greater tendency for Modern Standard Arabic to make use of structures in which the subject precedes the verb than did Classical Arabic, a phenomenon which may reflect the tendency towards subject-first structures in at least some Arabic dialects.
9.2.4 Interaction of theme-rheme and main-subordinate elements While it may be that in most cases subordinate clauses in rheme position (i.e. towards the end of the phrase or sentence) convey information which is both backgrounded and relatively unpredictable, in some cases this expectation is not fulfilled. Consider the following example from English: Where a society regularly uses two or more languages to carry out its affairs, we can speak of societal bilingualism. The restriction of each language to certain areas is referred to as geographical bilingualism. In parts of Belgium, for instance, French is spoken as a first language, {whereas Flemish is natively spoken elsewhere}; and both languages have official status. Some people, of course, will be bilingual; and in most bilingual societies, one language-group is more bilingual, at the individual level, than the other (Leith 1983: 12; cited in Sekine 1996: 83). Here, the information conveyed by the phrase whereas Flemish is natively
48
spoken elsewhere is unpredictable, but it is not, as one would have expected from the fact that it is subordinate and rhematic, backgrounded. In this context, neither French nor Flemish has been previously discussed, and the text does not go on to discuss either of them subsequently. In fact, it would seem perfectly possible to reverse the occurrences of French and Flemish without materially altering the information conveyed by the text. Thus: In parts of Belgium, Flemish is spoken as a first language, whereas French is natively spoken elsewhere seems little different from the version in the actual text. In this case, the relationship between the information conveyed by the main clause and that conveyed by the subordinate clause is roughly one of equality in terms of degree of foregrounding/backgrounding. In this respect, the balance of information is more like that typically conveyed by coordination than that conveyed by subordination. As noted in 9.2.4, reversal of the subordination structure is a fairly common strategy for dealing with cases in which rhematic subordinate clauses in Arabic convey foreground information. An example is the following extract, from the start of a newspaper article, which we have seen previously in Ch. 5.2.1 (from Al-Jubouri 1984): . . For any political party to succeed it must be prepared to stand up for freedom of expression and human rights, to protect the weak, to oppose corruption, to set itself the highest standards, and to act according to these standards. Any party which supports and defends the people will find that it is supported and defended by the people. Compare this translation with a more literal one: It is possible for any political party to succeed if it is prepared to stand up for freedom of expression and human rights, to protect the weak, to oppose corruption, to set itself the highest standards, and to act according to these standards. Any party which supports and defends the people will find that it is supported and defended by the people. This more literal translation sounds slightly odd because the information presented in the rhematic subordinate clause beginning if it is prepared seems too important to the overall development of the text to be backgrounded in this way. As also discussed in 9.2.4, one strategy for dealing with unpredictable foreground information which is conveyed by a rhematic subordinate clause
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in Arabic is to translate the Arabic rhematic subordinate clause as a separate sentence in English. Sentences are informationally independent. This strategy can be further illustrated by the following extract from a magazine article about music in Islamic Spain: }{ } { . A possible English translation of this is as follows: He [Abd al-Rahman the First] was followed by Abd al-Rahman the Second, who further raised the status of music by bringing to his court the most famous musician in Arab history, Ziryab. {Ziryab} pioneered the development of Arabic music by adding a fifth string to its most important instrument, the Oud, thereby greatly increasing its potential musical range. For many generations {previously} the Oud had been limited to four strings only. Here the Arabic relative clause introduced by is converted into a second sentence, introduced and related back to the first sentence by the repetition of the name Ziryab. The subsequent temporal clause in Arabic introduced by is also converted into a separate sentence in English, the word previously being used to provide the appropriate temporal relationship. This example and the previous one also illustrate the tendency in Arabic to make use of multiple subordinate clauses introducing rhematic but foregrounded information. The standard relative pronoun ( and related forms), and the clausal relative markers and ( cf. Dickins and Watson 1999: 235) are particularly commonly used in this way.
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9.3 DENOTATIVE ASPECTS OF SUBORDINATION From a denotative point of view the information contained in a subordinate or element can be regarded as subordinate to the information contained in the main clause in that the former normally qualifies the latter. Consider the following: 1. Tom screamed until the police arrived. 2. Tom screamed once until the policy arrived. 3. Tom screamed, and eventually the police arrived. 4. Tom screamed once, and eventually the police arrived. Example 1. here is readily interpretable as meaning that Tom screamed and carried on screaming until the police arrived. Example 3. is, without further context, ambiguous between Tom screaming once and then eventually the police arriving, and Tom continuing to scream until the police arrived. Example 4. obviously only allows the interpretation that Tom screamed once. Example 2., however, is odd, since the information given in the subordinate clause, and particularly that given by until (i.e. continuity of action) cannot coherently qualify the information given in the main clause, and particularly that given by once (i.e. a single completed action). The result is a logical or denotative contradiction. Example 2. can be contrasted particularly with example 4. in which the coordinating conjunction and is used (together with eventually). Here the grammar of English does not require that the information contained in the second clause in this case a second main clause introduced by and qualify in this way the information contained in the first clause. The second clause [and] eventually the police arrived does not, therefore, force an interpretation that the screaming continued right up to the arrival of the police; and there is therefore no contradiction between the use of once in the first clause and the use of [and] eventually in the second clause. The principle that the information contained in a subordinate clause or element is subordinate to the information contained in the main clause in that the former qualifies the latter seems to be largely upheld in both Arabic and English. There are, nonetheless, occasions in both languages where this principle does not hold true; these seem to be commoner in Arabic than in English. Consider the following which comes at the end of a newspaper article about the life of ( from , Oct. 24, 1992; in Dickins and Watson 1999: 469-471). The subordinate clause of particular interest is placed in curly brackets: . ) ( .
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.{ } An initial translation of this might be along the following lines: Born on November 14, 1889, Taha Hussein lived until he was eighty-four, eventually dying on October 14, 1973. During this time, he had to deal with numerous trials and tribulations, the first of which was losing his sight when he was still a young boy. However, he never despaired {until he reached the pinnacle of scholarly achievement}. In fact, the final sentence of the English gives an entirely different sense to that intended by the Arabic; it suggests that when Taha Hussein reached the pinnacle of scholarly achievement he despaired. This is because the information contained in the phrase until he reached the pinnacle of scholarly achievement qualifies i.e. limits the validity of the information contained in the main clause he never despaired and particularly that expressed by the word never. The same qualification or limitation does not obtain when the coordination conjunction and is used instead of the subordinating until. Thus, However, he never despaired, and ultimately he reached the pinnacle of scholarly achievement retains the intended sense of the Arabic ST. A similar, but less extreme, example is provided by the following (Brown 1996: 53): } {. . An initial translation of this might be: With the advent of evening, tiredness had taken hold of him, so he returned to the Upper Room and flung himself on the ground {until dawn}. Then he rose to discover that his back was as rigid as a plank of wood. In fact, the actual TT reads: With the advent of evening, tiredness had taken hold of him, so he returned to the Upper Room and flung himself on the ground. {He lay there until dawn} then rose to discover that his back was as rigid as a plank of wood. Here the translator has avoided the implication of the initial translation given above that the character in question continued to fling himself on the ground until dawn by placing the equivalent of in the following sentence. It is thus no longer subordinate to the information expressed by [he] flung himself on the ground, and therefore does suggest an interpretation
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of the characters continuous flinging of himself on the ground until dawn. In fact, there are occasions, even in English, when the principle of denotative subordination does not seem to hold true. Thus a passage describing the life of Ayatollah Khomeini contains the sentence, He then moved to Qom, the religious capital of Iran, until heart problems forced him to return to Tehran where he lived in the northern suburbs for the rest of his life (cf. Dickins and Watson 1999: 462). Here, we are not expected to interpret the sentence as meaning that Ayatollah Khomeini moved continually to Qom until heart problems forced him to return to Tehran, which would be the logical interpretation if the principle of denotative subordination operated rigorously in English.
PRACTICAL 9 Practical 9.3 Coordination in Arabic narratives Assignment Consider the following short Arabic ST and the two possible English TTs which follow it. Identify and briefly discuss coordinating and subordinating conjunctions in the (a) the original Arabic ST, (b) English TT 1, which is intended to be fairly literal, and closely reproduces the coordination and subordination patterns of the ST, and (c) English TT 2, which is intended to be more idiomatic, and incorporates subordinating structures typical of English narratives. Contextual information This passage is an extract from the novel by the Palestinian author ( taken from Brown 1996: 32). The novel concerns a young journalist ,and his sense of alienation in , the City of Oppression, in which he lives. In this short extract is with his mother.
Sentential issues in translation: Supplement ST
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. TT 1 And he bent forward and kissed his mothers forehead, then he pulled the covers over her frail body and told her she must sleep, and he went to sit down in his bedroom, to brood over his endless grief and pain. TT 2 He bent forward and kissed his mothers forehead, then, pulling the covers over her frail body, told her that she must sleep. He went and sat in his bedroom brooding over his endless grief and pain.
10 Discourse and intertextual issues in translation: Supplement

_______________________________ 10.3.1 Genre membership As noted in 10.3.1, the genre itself has effectively disappeared in modern Arabic, as has in its pure form). It is, however, possible to find - like material in modern literature, and even in some non-literary texts (cf. Dickins and Watson 1999: 548-9). An example which we saw in Ch. 7.1.1 was the following from the novel by the Palestinian writer : [...] This has been translated (Brown 1996: 13) as: It was not in his power to smother the fire in his heart with indifference or, by listening, to disguise his grimace. As noted in Chapter 7, the translator chose here, with good reason, not to translate the Arabic rhyme into an English rhyme. There are occasions, however, where -like material is acceptably translated into English rhyme. Consider the following from the historical novel by , which deals with the fall of Babylon in the 6th century BC. The novel adopts a somewhat archaic style in parts. This extract is from an initial introductory section lamenting the fall of Babylon:
Discourse and intertextual issues in translation: Supplement
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.. .. This has been translated (Morrey 2000: 8-10) as follows: How could she fall, the Great Invulnerable City? With walls impregnably towering, temples divinely flowering, palaces proudly glowering, with armies vast and ferociously grave, heroes cunning and valiantly brave. Much of the rhyme, parallelism and repetition of the Arabic ST is preserved in the English TT. However, this is only acceptable because of the archaic nature of the material, and because the translator has chosen to translate this material in an archaizing manner reminiscent of the kind of rhyming used particularly in pre-modern plays. That is to say, although ST is from a modern novel, the translator has managed to find a TL generic model from outside the typical form of the modern novel which makes this translation plausible. Even where there is a more obviously close correspondence between genres in Arabic and English, there may be significant genre-related problems in translating between the two languages. Consider the following example of English>Arabic translation from Hemingways novella The old man and the sea (cited by Abdulla 1994: 69). The original reads: He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. Abdulla compares two translations of this, which we can designate TT1 and TT2: TT1 . TT2 Abdulla comments: Excerpt [TT1] is by Salih Jawdat, a contemporary Arab Romantic
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Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement poet who transports the text into a much more poetic style than Hemingway would use. A noteworthy indicator is the use of the term ( decrepit), an echo from the Quran when Zacharia, addressing God, asked how he could beget a son when he has grown decrepit from old age [ : from , v. 8]. The translators grandiloquence hardly befits Hemingways simple, direct and secular style. A whole sentence was added, which could be backtranslated as he is still crouching alone in his boat, injecting an element of sentimental suspense by likening the old man to an animal waiting for prey. The last sentence, back-translated as The sea has not endowed him with any sustenance is too general and abstract to match Hemingways preference for the concrete (e.g. fish rather than sustenance). In sum, the translator has presented Hemingway, who had established his literary career as a master of an objective, unadorned style, to his Arab readers as a more romantic writer prone to religious allusions, high abstractions and verbal redundancy. [...] [TT2] was made by Munir Baalbaki, the compiler of the well-known English-Arabic dictionary Al-Mawrid [..], and offers a decidedly less romantic version than [TT1]. In place of the Quranic we have the Standard Arabic term ( old), which however in Classical Arabic was reserved for women; later in the passage, the translator shifted inconsistently to the Classical quasi-synonym .The verb for becoming weary through the passage of time (literally, take the skin off the body) sticks out as grand Classical style in otherwise prosaic rendering that comes close to the original even in having the same number of words (as compared to [TT1] with 37 words). We thus have a choice between the frankly and consistently high style of [TT1] versus the more neutral but inconsistent style of [TT2]. While the latter is closer to Hemingway, the former serves to mediate cultural differences by linking up to the high tradition of Arabic narrative, which is much more alive today than the corresponding English high style that Hemingway so roundly repudiated. The translators stylistic decisions are therefore plainly crucial and should be carefully weighed throughout the process of translating (Abdulla 1994: 69-70).
10.3.2 Quotation and allusion A variation on genre membership is imitation, which may shade into parody. The following provides a small-scale example. This extract is taken from a section of a magazine article dealing with extremist politico-religious groups in the Middle East:
Discourse and intertextual issues in translation: Supplement
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]...[ [...] This can be translated (cf. Hetherington 1996: 20) as: The followers of each group see themselves as the companions of God, His chosen soldiers and friends and His official spokesmen. Most of this Arabic extract uses language which clearly belongs to a religious register ( ,pl. is a traditional word for an Islamic saint; army is a word with strong Classical and Islamic overtones: cf. , which is the more normal term for army in modern Standard Arabic). By contrast the phrase ... the official spokesmen for ... belongs specifically to the language of modern politics. The juxtaposition is here used to mock the pretensions of the extremist groups which the author is attacking.
Practical 10.3 Textual restructuring Assignment Consider the following ST and the proposed TT of the first paragraph below it. Identify ways in which the TT is odd in the light both of material in this chapter on textual restructuring ( 10.2.1.2) and on the interaction of themerheme and main-subordinate (Ch. 9.2.4). Produce your own revised version of the TT, dealing with the oddities which you have identified. Translate the first paragraph of the ST only. (The second paragraph is included here simply to provide fuller context.) Note that here has both a temporal and a causal aspect; i.e. the reason that there is a need to return to the roots of Islam is that western ideologies have previously emptied Arabic culture of its true contents. Contextual information The ST is from the start of a publishers blurb for a book by entitled . ...
85 ST
Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement } { . . .
Proposed TT This book calls for a return to the fundamental roots of Islam, as these were understood by Muslims in the age of the Arabian apostle, and applied by the Rightly Guided Caliphs who followed him, since western ideologies have emptied Arabic culture of its true contents and have destroyed the .authenticity of the Arabic language
11 Metaphor: Supplement
_______________________________ 11.2.2 The purposes of metaphor Basing ourselves on Newmark, we can say that metaphor has two purposes, a denotative-oriented purpose and a connotative-oriented purpose. (Newmark in fact uses different terminology; he calls these referential purpose, and pragmatic purpose respectively.) The denotative-oriented purpose is to describe a mental process or state, a concept, a person, an object, a quality or action more comprehensively and concisely than is possible in literal or physical language (Newmark 1988: 104). This analysis of the denotativeoriented purpose of metaphors is particularly appropriate in the case of lexicalized metaphors. Thus, if someone says, He lashed out at his opponent, this is a very concise way of saying that he burst into or resorted to verbal or physical attack (cf. Collins English Dictionary). In the case of non-lexicalized metaphors, and original metaphors in particular, another denotative-oriented purpose is often foremost. This is the use of metaphor to express an open-ended denotation or potential range of denotations. This open-endedness of interpretation of original metaphors is a function of the fact that the grounds of a metaphor are often not defined precisely enough by the context to enable a reader to say exactly what the metaphor means. The connotative-oriented purpose of metaphor is to appeal to the senses, to interest, to clarify graphically, to please, to delight, to surprise (Newmark 1988: 104): in short, metaphors tend to carry with them a strong emotional force. The reason metaphor is able to achieve these effects is a function of the fact that all metaphors except dead ones have a strong reflected meaning (Ch. 6.7), original metaphors typically having the strongest reflected meaning. Metaphorical usages are quite frequently extremely witty. Consider the following, from a football summary on British radio: Tottenham were a marshmallow of a team: sweet, expensive and downright soft in the middle. Here the summarizer has made use of multiple metaphors to produce a
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memorable and entertaining turn of phrase.
11.2.3 Metaphorical force On the basis of the above account of metaphor, it is possible to draw up a scale of metaphorical force as follows:
L E X I C A L I Z E D NON-LEXICALIZED ***** Dead Stock Recent Conventionalized Original > typically greater metaphorical force
As this diagram shows, there is a typical correlation between non-lexicalized metaphors and metaphorical strength. Non-lexicalized metaphors tend to be more striking or forceful or vivid than lexicalized metaphors, at least partly because of the unpredictability of the meaning of non-lexicalized metaphors. However, the metaphorical force of conventionalized non-lexicalized metaphors is typically less than that of original metaphors. Thus metaphors such as vultures are the sharks of the air, or my head is a balloon this morning seem rather weak because it is fairly typical normal to use sharks as an example of rapacious animals, and there is a general convention in English that emptiness signifies lack of intelligence or understanding. Similarly, some non-lexicalized metaphors which were originally quite striking might be considered hackneyed now because of their frequent repetition. An example might be John Donnes No man is an island. Conversely, lexicalized metaphors tend towards the banal because of the definable and predictable nature of their meaning; often lexicalized metaphors lose almost all their force, and scarcely recall the more basic meaning of the word or phrase with respect to which they are metaphorical; i.e. they become dead metaphors. Even such dead metaphors, however, can be debanalified and rendered vivid. Normally, we would hardly think of sift meaning examine minutely as being a metaphor; He sifted the evidence seems to have little metaphorical force, and could be classified as a dead metaphor. As soon as we add through the fine sieve of his intellect to give He sifted the evidence through the fine sieve of his intellect, however, the original metaphor fine sieve resuscitates and renders vivid the non-original metaphor sifted. For a fuller treatment of issues involved in the translation of metaphor see Dickins (forthcoming).
12 Language variety and translation: register, sociolect and dialect: Supplement

_______________________________ 12.6 REPRESENTATIONS OF SPEECH IN WRITTEN ARABIC The examples and which were discussed in 12.5 illustrate two approaches to the representation of spontaneous speech in written Arabic. The first is to relay speech as it was actually said, or in the case of fiction, as it might have been said. The second is to convert the actual or imagined colloquial into Standard Arabic. One type of writing in which spontaneous speech is regularly represented is modern fiction. Some writers make regular use of colloquial Arabic in representing direct speech. The following is from the short story by the Sudanese writer ( n.d.: 5). Here the colloquial elements are in a rural Sudanese dialect of an area on the Nile north of Khartoum. Since most readers are unlikely to be familiar with this dialect, we have provided English glosses for the dialect forms in footnotes at the end of the ST: - : - 1 . . .
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Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement . . 2 . : 3 4 : 5 . Footnotes = :? Doesnt Zein want to get married .1 . = wanting, [he] wants ,negative particle Boy, donkey, what has made you . .2 . = what :?late = :? Sir, did you hear the news .3 .Sir :? News of what, boy, dumb animal .4 . = dumb animal , = of Zein, theyre going to make the . .5 ] = [they are :wedding contract for him the day after tomorrow , = tomorrow , = they make the wedding contract ,going to . = the day after tomorrow
The following, by contrast, illustrates the use of Standard Arabic for representing spontaneous speech. This extract is taken from the novel (n.d.: 3). We have placed elements which we will by :further discuss below in curly brackets : }{ . . : ! .. }{ } { }{ .. .. }{ ! :
Language variety and translation: Supplement
63
. }{ : } { ! { } : .. In this extract not only is the dialogue relayed in Standard Arabic, but also in a form of Standard Arabic which is quite formal and clearly distinct from colloquial Arabic. The writer chooses to use }{ instead of or even , both of which would be closer to the colloquial. Similarly { } with its use of the absolute accusative (cf. root repetition; Ch. 8.2.3.2) and }{ are markedly formal usages (cf. the less formal ,) as is the word order in the phrase { .} Even usages such as { }{ ,} { , } and {( }in the way in which it is used here) seem chosen to distance the forms of this extract from those of colloquial speech. Some writers choose in their representation of speech to avoid both colloquial Arabic and a markedly non-colloquial form of Standard Arabic. There are two ways in which this can be done. The first is to make use of a form of Arabic which obeys all the grammatical rules of the Standard language, but which avoids words, phrases, and grammatical usages which are markedly in contrast with those of colloquial Arabic. The result is a form of Arabic which has a colloquial feel without being colloquial. This approach was adopted by the playwright amongst others. The second technique is to adopt a form of writing which makes various concessions to colloquial Arabic, either using a certain number of colloquial words and phrases, or in the sporadic adoption of colloquial and non-Standard grammatical forms. Consider the following which is from a book of jokes entitled relating to the Middle-Eastern folk-character Juha and written by ( n.d.: 10). Elements of relevance to the current discussion have been placed in curly brackets: :* : }{ : } { .: }{ : - }{ ! !: }{
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Here the form in the phrase Dont you know is used, not pronominally, as in Standard Arabic, but as an interrogative particle signalling surprise or mild disbelief (Badawi and Hinds 1986: 918) as in Egyptian Arabic. Similarly adopts the word order of Egyptian Arabic I know what rather than the grammatically correct Standard Arabic . Finally, the use of in the sense of You mean to say that (etc.) is typical of Egyptian colloquial Arabic. As might be expected, texts which make use of specifically colloquial elements also tend to make use of Standard Arabic forms which are compatible with the colloquial. In this example, for instance, the writer has used the phrase , which is acceptable in both Standard and colloquial Arabic, avoiding the form , which is only used in the Standard language. It is also possible to find occasions where writers make use of forms which are not strictly speaking Standard Arabic in narration or other contexts where speech is not being represented. An example is the use of colloquial Arabic forms by in the first paragraph of the ST in Practical 3.. This is reproduced here for convenience: . Here the colloquial Arabic elements , , , , etc. (cf. Practical 3.1 for the meaning of these) are used within a general context of Standard Arabic vocabulary and sentence structure. The result is a combination of intimacy, as though the reader is being made privy to the thoughts of ,and emotional distance, in that the authoritative third-person Standard Arabic voice of the author is still present. From a translation point of view, the various approaches to the representation of spoken colloquial in written Arabic present a number of problems. In most cases, the translator is unlikely to want to render dialect by dialect for reasons discussed in 12.4.1, although it would seem sensible to render forms which are dialectal or at least reminiscent of dialect in Arabic into fairly colloquial forms in English. In the case of the extract from which we have just looked at, it would seem very difficult to find any technique for relaying in a TT the effect produced by the incorporation of colloquial Arabic forms in a Standard Arabic framework. Interesting problems also arise in cases where the writer uses Standard Arabic to represent spoken Arabic, and particularly where the form of Standard Arabic chosen is fairly distant from the colloquial. Here the context may be decisive. Consider the following, which has already been discussed in Ch.
Language variety and translation: Supplement 4.2 (Montgomery 1994: 21):
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. ! . TT: No deal! Look here my man, with twenty pounds you could settle your debts and make your life a lot easier. The Eid festival is tomorrow and you havent even bought a sacrificial lamb yet. As I would not ordinarily pay more than ten pounds for a date palm like this, I would like to think that I am being of some assistance to you. As noted in Chapter 4, the use of slightly stilted formal English here is motivated by rather formal nature of the Arabic, and by the fact that the rest of the Arabic dialogue in the story is in colloquial. Elsewhere, the informality of the situation itself may in effect rule out anything but a highly informal translation in English. This is the case with regard to the extract from in Practical 2.2. In other cases, however, the situation is not so clear. This is partly because the choice of colloquial or Standard Arabic or something in between to represent speech in written Arabic is to a degree at least a matter of personal preference on the part of the writer. Some writers, such as , have consistently refused to make use of colloquial Arabic in their works ( has described the use of colloquial as a disease; Somekh 1991: 27). By contrast uses colloquial Arabic to represent speech in some of his books but not others and it is not always evident that there is a reason behind the choice (cf. Holes 1995: 303-9). Given this, the safest technique is probably to translate most Arabic representations of spoken language into contextually normal and in most cases informal TL forms in English. The obvious exception is where a representation of spoken language in Arabic is so obviously formal and distant from spoken colloquial Arabic that the writer is clearly using this distance for stylistic effect. In such a case it might be reasonable to use a similarly formal register in the English TT.
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21 PRACTICAL Practical 12.3 Representation of speech in written Arabic, and tonal register Assignment (i) Discuss the strategic decisions that you have to take before starting detailed translation of the following text, and outline and justify the strategy you adopt, paying particular attention to issues of tonal register in the ST. The translation of this TT is part of a new translation of which you are doing to be published by Plover Books in its .Nobel Prizewinners series (ii) Translate the following text into English .(iii) Explain the decisions of detail you made in producing your translation Contextual information .)872772 :. (n.d by This text is taken from the novel by a former The text concerns a visit to a famous doctor called , who is himself a prominent lawyer. The two ,schoolmate .have not met for many years
ST _ ! _ ! . _ .. : _ . _ ! . ! : _ . . _ . _ .
Language variety and translation: Supplement
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: ._ : _ : : ! ._ _ [...] Practical 12.4 Representation of speech in written Arabic, and tonal register Assignment (i) Discuss the strategic decisions that you have to take before starting detailed translation of the following text, and outline and justify the strategy you adopt, paying particular attention to issues of tonal register in the ST. The translation of this TT is part of a new translation of which you are doing to be published by Plover Books in its Nobel Prizewinners series. (ii) Translate the following text into English (iii) Explain the decisions of detail you made in producing your translation. (iv) Consider the ways in which the tonal register of your translation of this text differs from the tonal register of your translation in Practical 12.3. Contextual information This text is also taken from the novel by ( n.d.: 404).
86 ST
Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement . : _ . . . : _ : _ : _ _ . _ _ ! .. .. _ _ ! .. : _ _ ! .. _ .. : _ . _ _ ..
13 Textual genre as a factor in translation: Supplement

_______________________________ PRACTICAL 13 Practical 13.3 Genre Assignment Consider the differences between the following three texts: (a) Kuwait Says it will not Give in to Terrorism (concentrate on paragraphs 1 and 2 only), (b) Kuwait Sets an Example (concentrate on paragraph 1 only), and (c) ( .. Practical 13.1). How does the presentation of the material in the three articles differ? Why do you think motivates these differences? What genres would you classify the three articles as? Contextual information The texts Kuwait Says it will not Give in to Terrorism, Kuwait Sets an Example, and .. relate to an incident in 1988 when Iranian-backed gunmen hijacked a Kuwaiti aircraft and demanded the release of 17 pro-Iranian prisoners from a Kuwaiti jail. The text Kuwait Says it will not Give in to Terrorism is from the Guardian (April 1988), and the text Kuwait Sets an Example is from the Washington Post (April 1988).
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(a) From The Guardian, April 1988.
Kuwait says it will not give in to terrorism

THE hijack of the Kuwaiti Jumbo jet entered its second week with no sign of either side modifying its position. The hijackers continued to demand the release of 17 prisoners from a Kuwaiti jail; the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, said: Kuwait is unshakable. It will not bend to any pressure. We shall not give in to blackmail or terrorism. The presence on the Boeing 747 of three members of the royal family will not influence our decision. The hijackers are mistaken if they think this way. In Kuwait we are all one family, with all citizens equal. The government of Cyprus, where the plane was finally allowed to land after being refused permission at Beirut, is caught in the middle. There were indications this Tuesday that the plane might be refuelled and go on to Algeria. The affair began on Tuesday when the plane, on a flight from Bangkok to Kuwait, was taken over as it approached the Persian Gulf and forced to divert to Mashhad in Northern Iran. Eventually the foreigners aboard, including 22 Britons and 35 other nationalities, were released there, leaving 50 Kuwaitis still aboard. The Iranian authorities, after first refusing, agreed to refuel the plane, which left intending to land at Beirut. It circled for several hours, the pilot getting increasingly desperate as his fuel began to run out and the Syrian authorities in Lebanon told him the plane would be fired on if it tried to land. The difficult choices before the Cypriot ministers are between giving in to the hijackers demands by refuelling the plane and letting it fly on (a course adamantly opposed by the Kuwaitis) authorizing a bloody and unpredictable assault on the aircraft, and trying to carry on the talks without any negotiating leeway, a policy likely to result in more of the passengers being killed. One, a Kuwaiti security guard, was murdered on the Saturday, another, a 20-year-old Kuwaiti fireman, on Monday.
Textual genre as a factor in translation: Supplement (b) From The Washington Post, April 1988.
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Kuwait Sets An Example

BEHIND the macabre drama of the latest hijacking lie the calculus and will of one gutsy country, Kuwait. A small place forever needing to balance off big neighbours (Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia) and diverse groups in its own population, Kuwait decided as the tumultuous 80s unfolded that it needed to add toughness to the suppleness which had long marked its policy. When pro-Iranian Shiites launched a wave of bombings on a single December day in 1983, killing five persons and wounding more than 80, the Kuwaitis braced themselves for the consequences and tried the perpetrators, handing down death and prison sentences on 17 men. The consequences have included repeated acts and threats of violence from elements openly hostile to Kuwaits quiet conservative ways. What is in a sense worse, the Kuwaitis have also met subtle pressures from their supposed friends. The truck bombing of the US embassy in Kuwait had been among the terrorists 1983 crimes. Nonetheless, the Reagan administration, ignoring its public solidarity with Kuwaits no-concessions policy, secretly undertook to induce the Kuwaitis to exchange the 17 convicts for Americans held hostage in Lebanon. This was a shocking, selfish, and unprincipled thing for a superpower to put before a small country confronting mortal threats from both internal forces and an avenging Iran. Kuwait refused to go along. Given the record, its no surprise that Kuwait has so far refused to yield up the 17 to a gang, that, to free them, hijacked a Kuwaiti flight out of Thailand last week. First the terrorists flew to Iran, their evident spiritual home. There the authorities, professing aversion to terrorism, proceeded to fail the two essential tests that lie before a country in that situation. The Iranians did not find a way to engage the hijackers in protracted negotiations. They allowed the plane to be refuelled so that it could continue on and, by the drama and progress of the flight, reap the sort of media coverage that terrorists seek in order to increase their bargaining leverage. A Kuwaiti newspaper reports, moreover, that on the ground in Iran the terrorists were able to smuggle aboard more accomplices and arms. By Tuesday this week the terrorists, having forced their presence upon Cyprus, had tortured and killed two persons and were subjecting others on the plane to a frightful ordeal, pausing only to assert their claim to be acting in a humanitarian way. Cypriots and others were negotiating. And it could change, but we hope it doesnt the Kuwaitis were holding steady.
14 Translating technical texts: Supplement

_______________________________ 14.1.1 Cultural commonality vs. cultural non-commonality It is useful to make a basic distinction between two types of technical texts: culturally common technical texts, i.e. those technical texts whose basic notions are shared by both the SL culture and the TL culture; and culturally non-common technical texts, i.e. those technical texts whose basic notions are not shared by both the SL culture and the TL culture. (It will, of course, be possible to find texts which fall some way between these two types; the distinction is, however, useful for practical purposes.) Examples of culturally common texts are natural-scientific and mathematical texts; these involve notions which are (or are considered to be) universal, and therefore properly speaking independent of particular cultures. Another example of a culturally common text would be a text detailing the rules of football (soccer); the notions involved here are common to both the English-speaking world and the Arab world; though not universal in the sense that mathematics and the natural-sciences are taken to be universal, they are culturally shared. The main problems which arise translating culturally common technical texts are likely to relate to technical terms, although there may also be difficulties relating to genre. Quite a lot of translation takes place between European languages in the natural sciences and associated technical areas. Although English has become the predominant global language in these areas, enough is still written in French, German, Spanish and other European languages to make this an area in which professional translators can specialize. In Arabic, on the other hand, one is unlikely to come across primary research in the natural sciences, and fairly unlikely to come across highly technical
Translating technical texts: Supplement
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technological material. It is much more likely that the professional translator will be called upon to translate government documents and other official material from Arabic to English, which while not technical in the full sense, contain enough technical material to require specialist knowledge on the translators part. Good examples of culturally non-common texts, where the basic notions are not shared between the SL and TL cultures, are texts in the traditional Islamic disciplines such as exegesis whether Quranic ( ) or poetic ( ,) Islamic Jurisprudence ( ,) and traditional Arabic grammar () and rhetoric ( .) Another example is texts in the modern discipline of Islamic Finance, which draws centrally on Islamic Jurisprudence. A professional translator is not likely to be asked to translate texts on traditional Arabic grammar (although some academics do so). He or she is also relatively unlikely to be asked to translate texts in Islamic Jurisprudence, although there is a market for such translation amongst non-Arabic speaking Muslims, and there exist several organizations in Britain, the United States and elsewhere devoted to promoting such translation. With the rapid growth of Islamic banks over the past few years, however, it is quite likely that Islamic Finance will become an area in which specialized translators are in demand. As is shown by the examples of the three types of lexical problem discussed in 14.2, access to up-to-date specialist dictionaries and databanks is essential for technical translators working in scientific and technological fields. Of course, even the most recent materials will by definition lag slightly behind innovations and new coinages, because all scientific and technological fields are constantly developing. In any case, even the best reference material does not always give a single, unambiguous synonym for a particular technical term. This means that the normal caveats concerning use of dictionaries apply also to technical translation, but in particularly acute form. That is, translators can only select the appropriate TL term from those offered by the dictionary if they have a firm grasp both of the textual context and of the wider technical context. The problem is not lessened, of course, by the fact that some of the context may remain obscure until the correct sense of the ST terms has been defined! This brings us to the two conceptual reasons why technical texts may be difficult to translate.
14.3 CONCEPTUAL PROBLEMS IN TECHNICAL TRANSLATION As noted in 14.3, conceptual problems in technical translation may arise from ignorance of underlying knowledge taken for granted by experts, but not understood by non-specialists and not explicit in the ST. We may term this kind of conceptual problem a Type 1 conceptual problem. However, conceptual problems may also arise from ignorance of what might be called the logic of a discipline methods of argumentation, the development of
74
relations between concepts. We may term this kind of conceptual problem a Type 2 conceptual problem. Conceptual problems are particularly well illustrated by culturally noncommon texts, although they can also be evident in culturally common texts. Consider the following text by the person considered to be the father of traditional Arabic grammar, ,5791( vol. 1: 34). Here discusses the use of the word order VERB-OBJECT-SUBJECT in Arabic taking as an example sentence , as opposed to the more normal VERB-SUBJECT-OBJECT word order, as illustrated by which he has just discussed. ST ]...[ It is worth giving a fairly literal translation of this text first, in order to make the Arabic material, which is quite difficult to follow, more comprehensible. A fairly literal English translation of the ST is as follows: Literal TT If you prepose the object and postpose the subject, the utterance will be the same as in the first example; this is your saying, , because you only intend by having it postposed what you intended by having it preposed. You did not intend to cause government in something which came first, even if it is postposed in the utterance. [...] It is as if they prepose that whose presentation is more important to them and what they are more concerned to present. A more idiomatic translation of this, which attempts to respect some of the conventions of academic writing in English is as follows: Idiomatic TT If the direct object is preposed and the subject postposed i.e. when the form is used the utterance will be essentially the same as in the previous example (i.e. .) This is because the denotative meaning of an utterance containing a postposed subject is the same as that of an utterance containing a preposed subject; it is not intended that the verb should govern something which comes before the subject, even if the subject is postposed in the utterance. [...] Rather, it seems to be the case that the Bedouin Arabs prepose the element whose presentation is more important to them and which they are more concerned
Translating technical texts: Supplement to focus on.
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This text contains a number of examples of Type 1 conceptual problems, i.e. those which arise from ignorance of underlying knowledge taken for granted by experts, but not understood by non-specialists and not explicit in the ST. The following are examples: In traditional Arabic grammar different syntactic-sentential (cf. Supplement, Chapter 8) word-orders are described in terms of movement of elements. Thus, in a word-order VERB-OBJECT-SUBJECT, the object is said to be preposed ( ,) and the object postposed ( ,) as compared to what is regarded as a more basic word order VERBSUBJECT-OBJECT. Even in this more basic VERB-SUBJECT-OBJECT word order, however, one can talk about the subject being preposed (as in the phrase in this text). (ii) The word ,which is given in Wehr as sound-group, phonetic complex; expression; term; word; wording (etc.), has here a technical sense which seems to comprise not only the forms of the words in question, including in particular the case endings which the subject and object take, but also the denotative meaning (Chapter 5). (iii) The phrase in this context must be taken to refer to denotative meaning, rather than the kind of meaning which has to do with predictability of information, theme and rheme, etc. (Ch. 9.2.2). (iv) The verb is being used here to refer to the notion of government. In traditional Arabic grammar verbs are said to govern nouns; that is to say, nouns and particularly direct objects have the case endings which they have (in the case of direct objects normally ( ))because of the government or working ( )of the verb. This text is also rendered extremely difficult to translate by the pervasiveness of Type 2 conceptual examples, i.e. those involving the logic of the discipline methods of argumentation, the development of relations between concepts. The following are examples of these: The entire argument is based on the notion of the reader as listener ( , , ,etc.). This directness was well motivated in an oral context in which a scholar directly addressed his students, as was the case in Classical Arabic culture. However, such a direct address to the reader is atypical of modern academic writing; and if an attempt is made to render this text into a style which is at least reminiscent of such modern writing a more impersonal style (involving such things as widespread use of the passive) is required. (ii) Classical Arabic often made rather vague use of pronouns and other items whose reference could only be deduced from consideration of (i) (i)
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Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement elements within the wider text. English tends to be more specific. Thus, the phrase has been translated in the idiomatic TT as in the previous example (i.e. ) with the original Arabic phrase included in brackets. Similarly, in the phrase the idiomatic TT makes explicit that the pronoun suffix refers to a postposed subject, by using the noun phrase postposed subject. Finally, in the Arabic ST, refers back to a fairly distant reference to ( which in the case of Arabic grammatical writing normally means the Bedouin Arabs who had retained the older, purer forms of Arabic, and were therefore felt to be the most reliable sources for correct Arabic forms). In the English translation, the noun phrase The Bedouin Arabs has been used, in contrast to the Arabic pronominal .
As these examples show, conceptual problems are the most intractable of all those that face the technical translator. Non-specialists are always likely to reach a conceptual impasse from which no amount of attention to syntax or vocabulary can rescue them. In that case they have only two options: to learn the concepts of the field in which they wish to translate, or work in close consultation with experts. In practice, trainee translators generally do both these things, quickly becoming experts themselves with the help of specialist supervisors. The best qualification for a technical translator is perhaps a combined technical and foreign language degree. However, not even people with that kind of qualification can expect to keep abreast of all the latest research, for instance in a natural science, while at the same time earning their livings as translators, and they will sooner or later come up against problems that can only be solved by consulting other experts or, where possible, the author of the ST.
PRACTICAL 14 Practical 14.3 Semi-technical translation Assignment (i) Consider the strategic problems confronting the translator of the following text, and outline your own strategy for dealing with them. You are to translate this article for a pilot English-language version of magazine, aimed mainly at expatriate English speakers working in the Middle East. (ii) Translate the second and third paragraphs (from to ) from the following Arabic text into English. The first paragraph and the title are provided in order to give contextual information only. (iii) Explain the decisions of detail which you made in producing your TT,
Translating technical texts: Supplement .especially those relating to technical questions
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Contextual information This Arabic article comes from the June 1994 edition of the Kuwait magazine , which is aimed at the general educated reader and covers cultural and scientific topics. Properly speaking therefore, this is not a piece of technical .translation, but rather what is sometimes termed popular scientific writing The text does, however, contain some technical concepts, and therefore provides .practice in some of the problems typical of technical translation Included after the Arabic text are a number of footnotes, covering technical terms and concepts which you will not be expected to be find in a standard .)Arabic>English dictionary (such as Hans Wehr
1
. 2 . 2 3 4 5 .
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Notes on technical terms and notions appearing in ST 1. : dark matter. 2. : , A distinction is made in astronomy between galaxy clusters and galactic clusters. Galaxy clusters are clusters of galaxies (i.e. clusters consisting of galaxies), and it this which seems to be meant in the Arabic both by and by ( para. 3, sentence 1). Galactic clusters are a type of star cluster. Galactic star clusters or open star clusters contrast with globular star clusters. Open star clusters are much less compact than globular star clusters, and are concentrated towards the plane of the galaxy hence their alternative name galactic clusters. 3. :Fritz Zwicky. 4. :Coma (from Greek, lit. = wisp of hair; cf. under in Hans Wehr). 5. In respect of the section: consider the following from an article about dark matter entitled The Dark Side of the Universe (Economist Magazine, June 23, 1990): The idea that most of the universe is invisible follows from the strange behaviour of the parts that are not. Galaxies, for example, spin too fast. If they were nothing more than the shining whirlpools of stars seen from earth, they would not be heavy enough to hold themselves together; centrifugal force would tear them apart. Since they are not falling apart, they must be heavier than they look. Some hidden mass must provide enough gravitational attraction to hold them together. Similar arguments apply to the arrangement of the galaxies. Their clustering can only be explained if the weight of a cluster is more than that of the bright galaxies it contains.
15 Translating constitutional texts: Supplement

_______________________________ PRACTICAL 15 Practical 15.3 Constitutional translation Assignment (i) Discuss the strategic decisions that you have to take before starting detailed translation of the following text, and outline and justify the strategy you adopt. You are to translate the text for a Lebanese political group which intends to use it as an official translation when dealing with the English-speaking world. (ii) Translate the text into English. (iii) Outline the decisions of detail which you made in producing your translation. Contextual information This proposed constitution was drawn up in the 1970s by , a lawyer and lecturer in constitutional law at the Lebanese University ( 1979: 1412). The text bears an interesting resemblance to the Indian Constitution discussed in this chapter. Where it is possible to make use of words and phrases which appear in the Indian Constitution in order to translate elements of this text, you should do so.
08 ST
: . - . - . - . - . - .
16 Translating consumeroriented texts: Supplement

_______________________________ 16.4 GENRE-MIXING IN CONSUMER-ORIENTED TEXTS The following extracts from three different recipe books in English amply illustrate potential variations of style in English-language recipes, and therefore problems of choice in translating recipe material. Thanks to their manifest consumer orientation, the extracts are also clear concluding reminders that every text and therefore also every translation is made for a specific purpose and a specific audience. BOUILLABAISSE NOTE: This, the most famous of all fish soups, is made chiefly in the South of France, different districts having particular recipes. It is a kind of thick stew of fish, which should include a very wide mixture of different kinds of fish. The original French recipes use many fish not available in Great Britain. The following recipe is adapted to use the available fish. In order to get a wide enough variety a large quantity must be made. [Ingredients listed] Clean the fish, cut them into thick slices and sort them into 2 groups, the firm-fleshed kind and the soft kind. Chop the onion, slice the leek, crush the garlic, scald, skin and slice the tomatoes. In a deep pan make a bed of the sliced vegetables and the herbs, season this layer. Arrange on top the pieces of firm-fleshed fish; season them and pour over them the oil. [...] (Beeton 1962: 119) ZUPPA DA PESCE It doesnt matter whether you call it bouillabaisse, cippolini, zuppa de pesce, or just fish stew; whether it has lots of liquid, or, like this, is
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Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement simmered in its own richly aromatic juices. Its not just good, its wonderful. To put it in the oven is somewhat illegitimate, but you are less apt to overcook it. Serve with Spanish rice (for the hearty ones), tossed green salad, French bread to sop up the juices. [Ingredients listed] Put the olive oil and garlic in a warm, deep casserole and heat. Place the large fish on the bottom, then the mussels and shrimp. Season, and sprinkle the parsley over all. [...] Baste from time to time with the juices, using an oversized eyedropper called a baster. Serve in deep hot plates. Serves 6 generously. Time: 45 minutes. (Tracy 1965: n.p.) FISH CAKES [Ingredients listed] 1. Chop the parsley with both hands, one on the knife handle and one on the top of the knife blade. This chops the parsley smaller and keeps your fingers safely out of the way of the knife. 2. Put the potatoes on one plate and mash them up with the fork. Add the fish and mash it up too. Add the butter, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix them all together. 3. Turn the mixture out on to the board and make it into a roll with your hands like a big sausage. Cut off rounds with the knife. [...] (Anderson 1972: 26)
PRACTICAL 16 Practical 16.3 Translation of consumer-oriented texts Assignment (i) Discuss the strategic problems confronting the translator of the following text, and outline your own strategy for dealing with them. (ii) Translate the text into English. (iii) Explain the decisions of detail which you made in producing your translation. Contextual information This recipe is from the same set of recipe-cards as the recipe ( Practical 16.2). Your brief is the same as for the recipe above. See also the Contextual information for for glosses and other information. The following terms, which are also found in this text, are probably not guessable by native English speakers (although the first of them might be accessible to someone who also knows French): flour (from French farine). What is intended is possibly a particular kind of flour (as distinct from the more standard .) We have
Translating consumer-oriented texts: Supplement
38
not, however, been able to ascertain this, and flour fits the context .perfectly well parsley (the more normal form in Standard Arabic, and in many .) dialects is ST

: 02 : 052 2 )21 ..( 2 .. 6 .. 1 .. 5 .. 2 2/1 .. 2/1 .. 2/1 .. : 3 . . 04 . 51 . . . 51 . .
References: Supplement
_______________________________ English-language references Abdulla, A.K. 1994. The translation of style, in de Beaugrande, R. et al (eds.) Language, Discourse and Translation in the West and Middle East. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing House. Al-Jubouri, A. 1984. The role of repetition in Arabic argumentative discourse, in Swales, H. and Mustafa, H. (eds.) English for Specific Purposes in the Arab World. University of Aston Language Studies Unit. Anderson, V. 1972. The Brownie Cookbook. London: Hodder & Stoughton. Arberry, A.J. 1957. The Seven Odes: The First Chapter in Arabic Literature. London: Allen & Unwin. Badawi, E. and Hinds, M.J. 1986. A Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic. Beirut: Librairie du Liban. Baker, M. 1992. In Other Words. London: Routledge. Bauer, L. 2003. Introducing Linguistic Morphology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. de Beaugrande, R., Shunnaq, A., and Heliel, M. (eds). 1994. Language, Discourse and Translation in the West and Middle East. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing House. Beeston, A.F.L. 1970. The Arabic Language Today. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Beeton, M. 1962. Mrs Beetons Family Cookery. London: Ward, Lock & Company. Brown, C. 1996. Translation of extracts from by .BA translation project: University of Durham.
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Calderbank, T. 1990. Translation Strategies for an Arabic Political Argumentative Text. Unpublished MA dissertation: University of Salford. Dickins, J. Forthcoming. Two models for metaphor translation. To appear in Target. Amsterdam and New York: John Benjamins Publishing House. Dickins, J., Hervey, S.G.J., and Higgins, I. 2002. Thinking Arabic Translation. London and New York: Routledge. Dickins, J. and Watson, J.C.E. 1999. Standard Arabic: An Advanced Course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Foreman, D. 1996. Translation of extracts from by . BA translation project: University of Durham. Hatim, B. 1997. Communication across Cultures: Translation Theory and Contrastive Text Linguistics. Exeter: Exeter University Press. Hetherington, M. 1996. Translation of by ( from magazine, no. 3521, 1995). BA translation project: University of Durham. Holes, C. 1995. Modern Arabic: Structures, Functions and Varieties. London and New York: Longman. Humphrys, S. 1999. Translation of extract from by .0991( Beirut: Al-Saqi Books). BA translation project: University of Durham. Ives, S. 1999. Translation of and ( from 2 April 1999). BA translation project: University of Durham. Johnstone, B. 1991. Repetition in Arabic Discourse: Paradigms, Syntagms and the Ecology of Language. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing House. Jones, L. 1999. Translation of ( from newspaper, 2 March 1999). BA translation project: University of Durham. Leech, G. 1981. Semantics. Harmondsworth: Pelican Books. Leech, G. and Svartvik, J. 1994. A Communicative Grammar of English. 2nd edn. London and New York: Longman. Leith, D. 1983. A Social History of English. London: Routledge, Kegan and Paul. Montgomery, A. 1994. Translation of by (1953. Beirut: .) BA translation project: University of Durham. Morrey, D. 2000. Translation of extracts from by .
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Thinking Arabic Translation: Supplement BA translation project: University of Durham.
Newmark, P. 1988. A Textbook of Translation. New York: Prentice Hall International. Rolph, D. 1995. Translation of by . (In , vol II. 1981. Beirut: .) BA translation project: University of Durham. Sekine, F. 1996. Clause Combining in Contextual Grammar in English. PhD thesis: University of Birmingham. Sells, M.A. 1989. Desert Tracings: Six Classic Arabian Odes. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press. Somekh, S. 1991. Genre and Language in Modern Arabic Literature. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. St John, J. 1999. Translation of and by .3791( In . Damascus: .) BA translation project: University of Durham. Swales, H. and Mustafa, H. (eds.) 1984. English for Specific Purposes in the Arab World. University of Aston Language Studies Unit. Tracy, M. 1965. Modern Casserole Cookery. London: Studio Vista. Tunnicliffe, S. 1994. Translation of and by .6791( Tunis). BA translation project: University of Durham. Arabic-language references . .0991 . ,London: Al-Saqi Books. .N.d. ( . ) Beirut: . . ,N.d. . Cairo: no publisher. , .5791 , ,ed. by . Beirut: .. . ,N.d. . Beirut: . . .1891 . , Beirut: ..
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THINKING ARABIC TRANSLATION

A Course in Translation Method: Arabic to English

Introduction 1 Preliminaries to translation as a process

Practical 1.3 Gist translation:

2 Preliminaries to translation as a product

Practical 2.3 Literal vs. free translation:

Practical 3.2 (extension) Cultural transposition: Practical 3.3 Cultural transposition:

Practical 4.1 Compensation:

5 Denotative meaning and translation issues

Practical 5.3 Semantic repetition, parallelism and list restructuring:

6 Connotative meaning and translation issues

7 Phonic/graphic and prosodic issues in translation

8 Grammatical issues in translation

Practical 8.2 Lexical item repetition:

9 Sentential issues in translation

Practical 9.3 Coordination in Arabic narratives:

Discourse and intertextual issues in translation

Practical 10.3 Textual restructuring:

Language variety and translation: register, sociolect and dialect

Textual genre as a factor in translation

Practical 13.3 Genre: Comparison of Kuwait articles

Translating technical texts

Practical 14.3 Semi-technical translation:

Translating constitutional texts

Practical 15.3 Constitutional translation:

Translating consumer-oriented texts

Practical 16.3 Translation of consumer-oriented texts:

Introduction to Thinking Arabic Translation: Supplement

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement

1 Preliminaries to translation as a process: Supplement

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement

Preliminaries to translation as a process: Supplement

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement

Preliminaries to translation as a process: Supplement

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement

2 Preliminaries to translation as a product: Supplement

Preliminaries to translation as a product: Supplement 2.2.2.1 Translation by omission

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement

3 Cultural transposition: Supplement

Cultural transposition PRACTICAL 3 Practical 3.2 (extension) Cultural transposition

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement . : . . : . : .. . :

Thinking Arabic translation

5 Denotative meaning and translation issues: Supplement

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement

Grammatical issues in translation: Supplement

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement

Grammatical issues in translation: Supplement

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement .. . .. } [...] {

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement

Grammatical issues in translation: Supplement ST

6 Connotative meaning and translation issues: Supplement

7 Phonic/graphic and prosodic issues in translation: Supplement

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement .

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement

.. )( )( .. - .. .. ... ... ... - - .. .. .. .. ... - .. ....

8 Grammatical issues in translation: Supplement

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement

Grammatical issues in translation: Supplement 8.2.0.1.1 English

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement

Grammatical issues in translation: Supplement

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement

Grammatical issues in translation: Supplement

Thinking Arabic translation: Supplement

Grammatical issues in translation: Supplement